Pictures And Reasons
by rubiksbox
Summary: Harry and Hermione have a fight their last day at Hogwarts, causing them to break off their friendship. What will happen when they meet unexpectedly two years later?
1. Prologue

Pictures & Reasons-

Prologue

Disclaimer: As I'm not making any money from this, chances are that I don't own the characters.

Throwing his hands up in the air and turning around, Harry Potter finished tossing the last of his books into his trunk and slammed the lid shut.  
"You just don't get it, Hermione," he ground out as he spun back around to face her and continue their latest argument, which there had been quite a few of during the last few months. Now it was their last day ever at Hogwarts, and they were packing to leave. Hermione had confronted Harry, and had once more tried to get him to discuss what had happened during the final battle between him and Voldemort during the Christmas holidays. The fight had been physically and mentally exhausting for Harry, and when it was over, he just wanted to get on with his life and finish his last year of school in peace, but Hermione wouldn't let him. She repeatedly attempted to force him out of the shell that he had erected around himself, more often than not, infuriating Harry in the process. As a result, they had been at each other's throats for six months now, and no intervention from their other friend, Ron Weasley, would put out the blazing fires that seemed to flare between the two.

"What don't I get, Harry?" she replied. "You won't tell me, so how am I supposed to know? The only thing that I asked is if you and Ginny were getting back together or not. It's not a federal crime to ask about 'that', is it?"

"It is when it's none of your business," Harry spat. "That's 'my' private life. Something that you have no reason to be butting into."

"What do you mean, 'your private life'? I have lived with you in this tower for the better part of the last seven years and I'm your friend, or at least I thought I was. Doesn't that make 'me' part of your so-called 'private life'? I mean, Ron knows more about your life than I do at the moment."

"That's rich," Harry snorted, turning back around to take hold of the handles of his trunk. "Considering that you knew everything about me before I even knew you."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Oh, let's see. You read everything you can get your hands on and then proceed to inform me and Ron about each little detail every chance you get. I'm sick of it!" He hauled the trunk to the portrait hole and dropped it on the floor with a resounding thud.

"Don't you ever get sick of being, as Snape put it, 'an insufferable know-it-all'?" He saw the stricken look on her face as he turned, and felt a surge of guilt go through him. He was about to apologize, but she retorted before he had the chance.

"If you want to talk insufferable, how about you? You make Head Boy, and all of a sudden, you're giving out detentions to groups of Slytherins for the least little offense."

Harry's green eyes glittered with anger. "You don't know what you're talking about, so I'll thank you to keep your mouth shut. They were asking for what they got and worse." He hadn't told Hermione that the Slytherins in question had been making plans to humiliate her in front of the entire school, and he had come upon them as they were getting ready to spring their little trap. He hadn't wanted her to be hurt, no matter how angry he was with her and had given Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle each a weekend working with Filch cleaning the corridor floors after a big rain. It had given him an almost obscene pleasure to see Draco Malfoy on his hands and knees, scrubbing mud from the stone floor in the entrance hall. But Hermione had been mad at Harry for what he had done, and when she asked him why he had set the three Slytherins to this horrible task, he had only responded that they had looked as if they were up to something.

"But they weren't doing anything!" Hermione spat back. "They were just standing out in the entrance hall, minding their own business, then you come along, think they're making trouble, and stick them with Filch for a whole weekend, cleaning mud off the floors!"

"You want to know why I really gave them detentions?" Harry asked, crossing his arms. Hermione nodded and rose from her seat on their favorite couch in front of the fireplace. "They were going to humiliate someone. I heard them discussing it and inturrupted them before they got the chance. They sounded as if they had been planning it all year. 'That's' why I gave them detentions. The fact that it had rained all week long and Filch was having to clean up mud was a bonus when I was deciding what to give them. Even McGonagall agreed that they deserved what they got, so, Let. It. Go."

"But, Harry.."

"Hermione! I said let it go, will you please drop it!" They were inturrupted by Colin Creevey and his brother scrambling through the portrait hole at that moment, both excited about something that Colin had in his hand. They ran up the stairs to the boys' dorms. Harry and Hermione heard a door slam shut a few seconds later.  
"Why won't you tell me what's going on anymore?" Hermione said, sounding more than a little like a child that had been told it couldn't have a new toy. "I feel left out half of the time as you only talk to Ron, and it's very frustrating!"

"You want to know why I don't tell you anything anymore?" Hermione nodded. "Because I just want to be left alone. I don't want everyone coddling me and asking me about the final battle with Voldemort. It's over. It's done, and I just want to get on with my life. I've had enough of everyone congratulating me for ridding the world of Voldemort, but no one knows how much I 'don't' want to hear it! I thought that my best friends would help them all to see that, but no. You are just as bad as they are, Hermione. Why won't you leave me alone about it? And you know that Ginny is with Neville, now. Why are you asking if I'm going to get back with her? Don't you have anything better to do than worry about me? Get a life, Hermione!" Colin and Dennis returned at that second and bounded over to the aruging duo. "What do 'you' want?"

"I finished this for you, Harry." Colin held out a picture that still had the wet sheen of being recently developed. "I just had to get the ingredient to make it move. It's still..." Harry snatched it out of his hand.

"Harry! Don't act like that, he was doing something nice for you!" She grabbed hold of the other side of the photograph. Harry turned angry eyes to her.

"Don't tell me what to do," he hissed, fury evident in every syllable. "You keep it up, and you won't have me as a friend anymore." He attempted to pull his hand away, but it seemed to be glued to the picture. "What the? What is with this thing?"

"That's what I was trying to tell you," Colin said nervously. "It's still wet, and the stuff that makes the pictures move, Briarhorn sap, is really sticky until it dries."

"Did you really mean that, Harry?" Hermione said as he continued to attempt to detatch his hand from the picture. "What you just said?" He nodded.

"Yes. I've had enough of you and everyone else telling me what to do."

"Then let me make it one less person. After the things you said to me today, we are no longer friends." With that she wrenched her hand away from his, tearing the picture clean in half, and stormed out of the common room.

"Fine with me," Harry said and left as well, leaving the Creevey brothers staring at each other with total shock. 


	2. Two Years Later

Pictures & Reasons- Chapter 1

Two Years Later...

Disclaimer: As I'm not making any money from this, chances are that I don't own the chatacters

"Livin' my life in a slow hell,"  
('You got that right.')

"Different girl every night at the hotel."  
('Well, not so much that part.')

"I ain't seen the sun shine in three damn days.  
Been fueling up on cocaine and whiskey,"  
('No to the cocaine, but 'fire' whiskey, on the other hand...')

"Wish I had a good girl to miss me,"  
(''Does' she miss me?')

"Lord I wonder if I'll ever change my ways.  
I put your picture away,  
Sat down and cried today.  
I can't look at you while I'm lying next to her."  
('This guy's good!')

"I put your picture away,  
Sat down and cried today.  
I can't look at you while I'm lying next to her."

Harry's head snapped around as the song was cut short by the radio beeing shut off. He saw Susan Meyers, his girlfriend of a year and a half, standing next to it across the room, wearing a pair of shortie pajamas, her hands on her hips. Harry turned back to the window, absently rubbing his right side, knowing full well what was coming next.

"What are you doing?" Susan asked.

"Thinking."

"Why is it you're always thinking when I'm waiting for you in the bedroom?" Harry shrugged.

"Dunno."

"Harry, what was the point of us coming here if we aren't going to sleep together?" She saw his slight cringe at the mention of them being intimate. "Is it so terrible for you to think of me in that way?" she added in a hurt tone. Harry shook his head and looked back at her.

"I've just got a lot on my mind right now," he said, then turned his head forward again and looked down at the half picture in his hand. Hermione's image smiled up at him, then looked to the side and said something and laughed towards the torn edge of the paper. Harry watched as a hand that he knew to be his own came into view and wrapped around her shoulders. He remembered the day this picture had been taken. It was before the last battle and all the arguments he and Hermione had had afterward. He had hammed it up as much as possible for Colin this day, and Hermione had joined in soon afterwards, as the picture now showed her crossing her eyes and making fish faces. Harry chuckled quietly to himself at the sight.

"What's so funny?" came Susan's voice from his right shoulder. Harry moved to hide the picture from her, but she grabbed it out of his hands before he could get it out of sight. Her jaw went slack as she looked at the picture, then clenched tightly as she raised her angry blue eyes to his face and threw it back at him, turned, and stormed away.

"Sue, it's not what you think," Harry began.

"Oh, no?" she cried, spinning on her heel to glare at him. "Then tell me, why are you carrying a picture of that girl around with you?" He noticed her voice was rising with every word. "Is she the reason that we've never made love 'once' in the entire eighteen months that we've been together? Why you only hold my hand or kiss me when 'I' initiate it? And even when you 'do' kiss me, you make it overly short! It's like you think being with me is some sort of chore!" By now she was positively shrieking and Harry was sure that everyone on the floor could hear her. "I won't have it!" She hurried out of the room and came back a minute later, her overnight bag in one hand and her shoes in the other. She was still in her pajamas, but had thrown her coat over them. "I will not sit around waiting for you to figure out what you want. Good-bye, because we're 'through'!" She yanked open the door and slammed it shut behind her so hard that the pictures rattled on the walls.

Harry could only sigh in defeat, but he knew that she had been right. He 'had' only touched her when she initiated it, not on his own, and any time he had kissed her, there had been absolutely no spark, no emotions going through him whatsoever.  
"Well, since I was unable to show her any affection, maybe it's better that she left," he said out loud to the empty room. He turned and headed to the bedroom, still rubbing his side, and rolled his green eyes when he saw what she had done to his things. He pulled his wand out and began summoning his clothes and toiletries to himself, then put them back into his bag neatly.

"For a Muggle, she managed to scatter my stuff pretty far in such a short time," he muttered to himself as he closed the clasp, and taking off his glasses and laying them on the bedside table, he turned to collapse onto the bed. He got right back up though, when he smelled the perfume that she usually wore strongly on the covers. Harry wrinkled his nose. He hadn't much cared for the scent, but didn't say anything out of concern for her feelings. He stripped the bed down and flopped onto the fortunately fragrance free mattress.

He tenitively sniffed the pillows and when he smelled only the cotton cases, pulled them both to him and tucking one under his head and propping the picture of Hermione on the other, he stared at her image until he could no longer keep his eyes open and drifted off to sleep. His last thoughts before losing conciousness were, 'I wonder how Hermione is and what she's doing right now.' 


	3. In Another Room

Pictures & Reasons- Chapter 2

In Another Room

Disclaimer: As I'm not making any money from this, chances are I don't own the characters.

"I called you last night in the hotel,  
Everyone knows, but they won't tell."  
('That's true. No one tells me anything about him anymore.')

"But their half-water smiles tell me something just ain't right I've been waiting on you for a long time."  
('Why can't he see that? Doesn't he know how much I miss him?')

"Fueling up on heartaches and cheap wine."  
('Amen to that, sister!')

"I ain't heard from you in three damn nights!"  
('More like two damn years.')

"I put your picture away,  
I wonder where you've been.  
I can't look at you while I'm lying next to him."  
('Dear God, can this song be any more right?')

"I put your picture away,  
I wonder where you been."  
('This is one hell of a dedication. It's almost as if someone dedicated it to 'me'.')

"I can't look at you while I'm lying next to him."  
('What in the world is going on over there?')

Hermione clicked off the radio as the sounds of a woman screaming came to her ears. She moved closer to the wall and listened closely.

"Then why are you carrying a picture of that girl around with you? Is she the reason that we've never made love 'once' in the entire eighteen months we've been together? Why you only hold my hand or kiss me when 'I' initiate it? And even when you 'do' kiss me, you make it overly short! It's like you think that being with me is some sort of chore! I won't have it!" Silence fell, and Hermione was about to turn the radio back on to finish listening to the dedication hour as she did every night, but a minute later, the woman was back. "I will not sit around waiting for you to figure out what you want. Good-bye, because we're through!"

The door to the next room slammed so hard that it made the wall in front of Hermione vibrate. Curiosity got the better of her and she ran to look through the peephole in the door. The woman was heading to the stairs a few feet away, her back to her, and showing a lot of her long legs under a mid-thigh length coat. She threw a pair of shoes on the floor and stepped into them as she reached them and tossed her blonde hair back and shouldered her bag before starting down the short flight to the landing. Hermione only caught the briefest glimpse of her face when she turned on the landing to go down the next set, but it was one of absolute rage. She looked vaguely familiar.

'Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned,' she thought, then turned away from the door to check on her boyfriend. He was still sound asleep in the bed of course, a hurricane could go through his ears and not wake him up. She grimaced at the sight of him. 'Why did I come here? I want to end it with him, not give him the thought that we are getting closer. I just 'know' that he's going to try and talk me into sleeping with him again.' She turned away and headed back to the sitting room.

"Why did I let Ron and Luna talk me into coming here with Mark?" she whispered to herself as she sat down in an overstuffed chair, brought her feet up onto the cushion and hugged her knees. Her suitcase caught her eye and she pulled her wand out from the waistband of her jean shorts to summon it to her.

She flipped the latches on the top and reached inside, digging around until she unearthed half of a picture. She put her suitcase on the floor and smiled.

Harry's image looked back at her with a disarming grin, then he puffed out his cheeks and stuck his top teeth over his lower lip before turning to the ragged edge of the photograph and saying something and laughing to the missing half. He moved his left arm out of the shot by way of the torn side and she knew where it was going. She had been on the other side. This had been one of their last days before the final battle and when Colin Creevey had wanted to take their picture, Harry had hammed it up and talked her into doing the same thing. She remembered feeling her stomach flutter pleasantly when Harry's arm had come over her shoulder, and she was sure that she had been turning red.

"But I'll never know, will I?" she said out loud. "I haven't seen Harry since we broke off our friendship two years ago, and I know that he doesn't want anything more to do with me." She looked towards the bedroom. "But I am 'not' going to be stuck here with someone that I have no romantic interest in. The fights between me and Harry taught me to stand up for myself and I think that I've been quiet about this too long."

She stood and marched back into the bedroom, flicking on the light as she made her way to the foot of the bed. Mark was lying on his back, one arm thrown over his eyes and was snoring loudly. She nudged his foot none too gently to prod him awake.

"Mark! Wake up, I need to talk to you." He groaned and rolled onto his stomach, pulling the pillow over his head. Hermione yanked the covers off, sending him bolt upright and instantly alert.

"What are you doing?" Mark sputtered, "I was trying to sleep."

"That's the point. You've done nothing but sleep and eat since we got here and I've had enough of it," Hermione responded, crossing her arms.  
"What else is there to do here? You won't go to bed with me. Remember that it was your idea to come here in the first place, not mine, Hermione. I would have rather stayed in London, but your friend and his wife talked you into coming to this hole in the wall little island that no one's ever heard of, much less visited." Hermione's face became irate.

"That does it. You want to go back to London so badly? Then go! Get out of here. Now." She turned and grabbed his scattered clothes off the floor and threw them at him. "Go on, get packed and leave! I don't want you to feel that you have to stay just for me." Mark got out of the bed and gathered the assorted articles and tossed them into the chair by the window.

"Now you're being ridiculous."

"No, I'm not. I'm serious. I think you are the rudest person I have ever met. You only think of yourself, treat my friends like they are less than nothing, leave your things all over my home, I could go on for another hour or so, but I want you out of this room. And to think that I was even remotely considering thinking about as you so nastily put it, 'going to bed with you'. Forget it, Mark. I want you out of my life within the next ten minutes or I'll call security to have you removed."

"What would you tell them was the reason?"

"You haven't figured out from how rude you were when we checked in last week that they won't 'need' a reason to throw you out? They would enjoy it immensely."

She reached for the phone.

"Care to try it?"

He shook his head and picked up his suitcase. Hermione watched as he quickly dressed and threw all his belongings in haphazzardly. She chuckled inwardly to herself when his wand was snapped in half as he shut the lid on it. Mark swore softly, pocketed the half that had fallen onto the bed and took up the case. She gestured for him to go ahead, following out of the room and to the front door. Mark turned when he reached it, a sly smile on his face.

"You don't really want me to leave, right? This is only a joke." Hermione moved past him and opened the door.

"Good-bye, Mark. Have a nice life." She shoved him out into the hall and closed the door firmly after him, and turned the lock with a satisfied smile. 


	4. What Are 'You' Doing Here?

Pictures & Reasons- Chapter 3

What Are 'You' Doing Here?

Disclaimer: As I'm not making any money from this, chances are I don't own the characters.

The next morning, Hermione got up and did her usual routine, then looked over the room service menu out of habit before realizing that she didn't have to call them anymore. Mark hadn't wanted to leave the room and didn't want to be left alone, so they had been ordering their food for all three meals. She smiled to herself as she dressed for the day.

'There are a lot of things I can do and see now that Mark's out of the picture,' she thought on her way down to the dining room. She picked up a plate from the buffet and filled it with fruits and cr pes. Turning around to find a seat, she finally noticed how packed the room was. There was only one seat open, across from a man with messy black hair, who had his back to her. It struck her as funny that his hair looked so much like Harry's.

'Girl, you have got to get Harry off your mind. He wouldn't be within a hundred miles of this place, remember? This is a wizard hotel and he wants to be left alone. Everyone here would know who he is.' She threaded her way through the tables, noticing that most of the witches in the room were repeatedly glancing over in his direction and stopping behind the man, cleared her throat.

"Excuse me, do you mind if I sit with you?" He put down his orange juice and turned to look up at her. To her suprise, she found herself staring into the equally startled eyes of the very person she had just been thinking about. "Harry?" He regained his senses first.

"Hello, Hermione," he smiled back warmly and gestured to the seat she had inquired about. She regained her senses and sat down. Harry's eyes followed her the whole way.

"What are you doing here?" Hermione asked.

"Eating breakfast," he replied and bit into a piece of toast as if to prove it. She shook her head.

"No, I mean, what are you doing 'here', in this hotel?" Remembering their last conversation two years previous in which he had practically told her to mind her own business, she added hastily, "Not to be nosy or anything, mind." Harry frowned in confusion.

"What do you mean by that?" he asked. "You don't remember the last time we saw each other? How we fought?" Harry nodded his understanding now and leaned forward in his seat.

"Hermione, I'm sorry for the way I treated you that day. You were concerned about me and I behaved a prat. You didn't deserve it, and I apologize. Forgive me?" He gave her a mock begging puppy look that made her laugh. "Honestly, if I ever hurt you again, please just smack me upside my thick skull, alright?" Hermione nodded.

"O.K. And I do forgive you, if you'll forgive me for being so overly concerned about you. I don't know why I was so desperate for you to talk to me about what you were going through." She took a bite of her cr pe, chewed thoughtfully as she studied him and when she had swallowed, said, "By the way, you look fantastic." Harry nearly choked on his eggs. He began coughing as the bite went down the wrong way.  
"Thank-you, you look pretty great, yourself," he said when he'd controlled his mild coughing fit. Hermione blushed prettily at the compliment and ducked her head. "What have you been doing for the last two years? Ron doesn't tell me much, but then, I really haven't let him say much concerning you. I thought that you hated me and I didn't want to hear how well you were doing without me in your life. A bit selfish, I know, but maybe I was still feeling some of the initial hurt that was left from our breakup. After a while, he stopped even trying." She nodded and reached across the table to take his hand.

"Same for me. Harry, do you think that we could be friends again? I've really missed you." Harry smiled at her, tightening his fingers around hers.

"Of course we can be friends again, Hermione. In fact, I've always considered myself your friend, just thought that you didn't want to be mine."

He watched intently as she bit into a strawberry and ran his thumb over her knuckles in mime with the way her tongue slid across her lower lip to catch a drop of juice. He dropped her hand when she looked at him curiously, making up for his abrupt action by looking at his watch.

"It's almost nine. I was going to do some sight-seeing today. Would you like to come with me?" Hermione nodded as she finished the last bite of her breakfast.

"I wanted to do a bit of shopping as well. I just have to get my bag from my room." Harry stood up and moved around the table to pull her chair back.

"I'll walk with you if you don't mind. We have two years of catching up to do." He held out his arm as she stood. She giggled and looped her own through it. Something came to mind as they headed to the foot of the staircase.

"By the way, Harry, you never did tell me what you were doing here."

"Ron talked me into bringing my girlfriend here," he replied, pushing his glasses further up his nose. "What about you?"

"Same thing," she said, hiding her disappointment in the fact that Harry now had a girlfriend rather well. The fact that she 'was' disappointed surprised her, but she brushed it away as a thought that Harry had a life away from her. "Ron and Luna thought it would be nice for me and my boyfriend to come up for a holiday." She didn't see the crestfallen look on Harry's face at her answer as she had pulled her key out of her pocket when they reached her floor. She heard him make a sound of confusion and turned to see him glancing around the corridor.

"What's wrong?"

"This hallway looks exactly like the one of the floor that I'm on." He looked at the wall as she turned to head to her room and noticed a small scratch in the wallpaper that most people wouldn't see. But then, Harry had been the youngest Quidditch player in a century and was still an expert Seeker for the England reserve team when he was on a break from his position at work. It was his job to look for the smallest thing in the game, and it came in handy sometimes off the pitch as well. He had noticed that scratch when he and Susan had checked in two weeks earlier. He turned his head to the left and saw the number on the door he was in front of. "This 'is' my floor! How about that? We're on the same floor and didn't even know it. What room are you and your boyfriend in?"

"Actually, it's just me, now. I realized that Mark was the biggest loser in the wizarding world and I could do loads better, so I chucked him out last night," she said from in front of her door. "This is my room."

"You're in 106?" Harry asked uncomfortably. Hermione turned to face him.

"Yes, why?"

"You didn't hear anything out of the ordinary last night, did you?" A shocked expression came to her face.

"As a matter of fact, I did!" She looked down as she tried to slip the key in the lock. "I was listening to my favorite dedication program on the radio around eleven, I never miss it, and all of a sudden I heard this woman start screeching from the next room. She seemed to be really pissed at her boyfriend. She stomped out of here like her hair was on fire. Why, did you hear it too? Well, of course you did, or you wouldn't have...Harry, what's wrong?" She had raised her eyes back to him and saw his whole face crumple into a look of anguish.

"I knew that someone had to hear her," he said as he slumped against the wall.

"Yeah! I heard the whole thing. It was pretty hard not to, although Mark slept right through it all. That fool could sleep through an earthquake," Hermione laughed lightly, but sobered up when she saw his expression hadn't changed. She moved forward and lay a hand on his shoulder. "Harry?"

He reached into his pocket and pulled out the key to his room.

"That was Susan, my girlfriend," he muttered as he showed her the number on the keyring. Hermione's hands flew to her mouth in horror.  
"Oh, God, Harry! I'm so sorry! Here you are with your girlfriend leaving you and I'm making cracks about it..." Harry waved it off.

"Don't worry about it. I don't think that I ever really loved her, I don't know if she even really loved 'me', or more the idea of being with Harry Potter."

Hermione took his hand and led him to her room, directing him to the chair when they had entered and closing the door, sat down across from him.

"The funny thing," he continued, "Is that you wouldn't think that she would know who I am, her being a Muggle and all, but some of her friends are witches, they went to Beauxbatons, and of course they 'do' know who I am, and I'm rambling." Hermione chuckled.

"You're fine, Harry, you just tell it exactly as you want. You said she was a Muggle?" He nodded, took a deep breath and continued.

"We met through Fleur and Bill about six months after we left Hogwarts. They thought we'd be a good match and asked a few of Sue's friends if they would get her to go on a blind date with me. Honestly, I think she had more fun than I did on our first date. We went to a fun fair that was around for the weekend, and I spent the whole time wishing that she was someone else. She was polite and all, but she didn't really know how to, I don't know, let go the way 'we' did while we were at school. Then Ron and Luna got married a few days later and I asked her to go with me to the wedding. I'm really sorry that you didn't come."

"I was still mad at you then, Harry. When Luna told me that you were going to be there, I said that I wouldn't, and sent my present later."

"That's what Ron said when I asked him about it. I turned down being his best man when Luna said that she was going to ask you to be her maid-of-honor. But then she changed her mind and chose Ginny after he asked Neville, and I ended up just sitting with the other guests with Susan. Well, to keep this from taking another two years of our lives to explain, I know you want to go shopping and sight-seeing with me, we'd been together a year and a half, as you no doubt heard last night, and as I wasn't ready to give her more than friendship, she up and left me." He gave her a ruefull smile. "I'm really much happier without her, because now I feel like I can breathe. She was always around and I had this constant feeling of being smothered. She was always asking how I did spells and what the purpose of a broomstick was, sort of like Ron's dad in reverse." They laughed as they remembered all the times Arthur Weasley had grilled Harry about different Muggle things, such as their money and toys like rubber ducks. "So it's over between us." He breathed a sigh of relief. "Now what about you and, what was his name?"

"Mark. He was a wizard, but only used his powers to get something from my kitchen when he didn't want to get off the couch. When he stayed with me a few days, my house would look as if a tornado had hit it. Clothes everywhere, empty bowls and glasses covering every surface, urgh! He's worse than me! You know how I can get when I'm busy with a project." Harry nodded, smiling as he remembered watching her with all of her books, doing her homework at Hogwarts. "Well, this was too much. It was like I was living to clean up after him, and when he did something for me, it was never without an ulterior motive. He was forever trying to get me to go to bed with him. He never succeeded, of course." Harry's face seemed to brighten when she said that, but he frowned a little and leaned forward, his elbows resting on his knees.

"Um, I'm sorry to inturrupt you, Hermione, but if you didn't like him, then why did you stay with him?"

"Well, after the last fight that we had at Hogwarts, I was sitting on the train with a couple of first years, and all I could think of was what you had said to me. How you were tired of me telling you what to do and I watched these two girls in the compartment with me, they were finishing each other's sentences. It made me remember how I'd sometimes know what you were thinking before you even did, and when you told me not to tell you what to do, it made it stick in my head. I think I lost some of who I was when I started following that, and wound up staying with the first guy that showed any interest in me at all. I thought that I couldn't do any better than him, but last night, I was sitting in here, and I realized, I didn't have to put up with this. You wouldn't have wanted me to take the crap that Mark was throwing at me. I went into the bedroom, woke him up and told him to get out, or I would call security. They wouldn't have had a problem chucking him out after the way he acted when we arrived."

"What did he do?" Harry asked.

"Harry, he was horrible! He insisted that we not be bothered and hung all over me while he was ogling the cleaning lady's backside. Then when he found out that there wasn't much of a nightlife on the island, he went into a tantrum and started yelling at the manager about it as if it was this man's fault that he was going to be bored. Then he had the nerve to pinch this woman that went past us while we were being shown to our room. Oh, Harry he made everyone miserable, and made 'himself' the most hated man staying here. What's so funny?" Harry had started laughing when he had heard about the woman being pinched.

"Did you happen to see the woman that he pinched?" he asked, his laugh dying down to a chuckle.

"Yes, she was tall, blonde, about my weight, and not at all happy about him doing that. Harry! Why is this so funny?" He had almost fallen out of his chair as his laugh returned full force and harder. He was now bent over, his chest flat on his thighs as he attempted to control himself. Being unsuccessful, he rose upright and fell against the back of the chair. She waited, slightly impatient for him to tell her what it was he was laughing at, but at the same time, happy to see that he was now able to laugh so freely, as he had never been during their years at Hogwarts.

"Did she have on a yellow swimsuit and black shorts, looking a bit like a bumblebee?" Hermione nodded. "And does Mark have brown hair?"

Another nod, and this time Harry 'did' fall from the chair in his amusement. Hermione stood and looked over the coffee table that was between the chairs to see that he was all right. He looked up at her from the floor, tears begining to run down his cheeks.

"I'm sorry, Hermione, it's just that the woman that Mark pinched was 'Susan'!" Hermione's eyes widened as she realized that Mark's roaming hands had found the backside of Harry Potter's girlfriend!

"She told me about it when she came back up to the room and wanted me to go down there and, as she put it, 'turn him into a toad with that wavy thing of yours.' I talked her into blowing it off, but now that I know who did it, I sort of wish that I had." He stood up and looked her in the eye. "It might have saved you the work of getting rid of him later on. And then I would have known you were here a lot sooner." Hermione flushed.

"Do you think that you would have had the same reaction as you did when we saw each other this morning?" Harry nodded and smiled.

"I missed you, Hermione. I really did. The person that I most wanted to see that summer was you. Ron and Luna helped me move into my new house in Godric's Hollow, but when it came to decorating it, I wanted your opinion more than theirs. I mean, you saw Ron's room at the Burrow. Orange everywhere. I wanted someone who had more of a range of the rest of the color spectrum to give me advice." He held out his hand.  
"Well, are you sick of me yet, or do you still want to explore the island with me?" Hermione smiled and took his hand.

"Of course I still want to go exploring with you. I just need to get my bag. After all, that 'is' the reason that we came up here in the first place, isn't it?"

She turned and walked to the bedroom, then raised her hand to her chest in attempt to slow her racing heart.

'Oh, my God!' she thought, "Harry Potter still wants to be my friend, and the last two years have made him even 'hotter' than he already was! I'm going to be the envy of every witch on the island.' She grabbed her little bag and hurried back to the sitting room where she found Harry looking out the window. "Ready," she said and he turned with a smile.

"I just had an idea. There's a restaurant across the street. When we come back from our shopping and sight-seeing, I'm taking you to dinner and dancing."

"But, Harry, I thought you didn't like dancing."

"I didn't like it when I knew that everyone was going to be looking at me during the Yule Ball, and that was five years ago. A lot can change in a few years. I promise to have you back for your radio program." He held out his hand again.

She made her way across the room and took it, smiling as she thought, 'You're right, Harry. A lot 'can' change in a few years.' He led the way to the door and after a few seconds wait while she locked it on the other side, they headed downstairs and out into the brilliant sunlight together, friends once more. 


	5. Dinner, Dancing And More

Pictures & Reasons- Chapter 4

Dinner, Dancing and More

Disclaimer: As I'm not making any money from this, chances are I don't own the characters.

Hermione stood gracefully as Harry pulled her chair back after their dinner that evening. He left the payment for the bill and a generous tip on the table and after she had looped her arm through his, led the way out of the restaurant. She felt the gazes of the female population following them and felt a surge of pride. 'Eat your hearts out, girls. I know him, have for years, he's hotter than he was in school, and he was sizzling then. But tonight, he's lean, he's mean, and he's 'mine'!' She giggled softly at that last thought.

"What?" Harry asked, smiling down at her. She waved him off.

"Nothing, just something that I noticed. All the women in there were staring at you."

"Well, that's because I have such a great bum." He shook it a little, making her laugh. "You didn't notice all the guys staring at you?"

"With this crazy hair, are you kidding me?" Hermione laughed. "Where are we going now?"

"Just up the street a bit. There's a club that Ron told me about that's run by Muggle-borns, just like the hotel, and they play mostly Muggle music. From what he said, it attracts a lot of Purebloods as well."

They walked a little further and Hermione heard a pounding beat from a large violent purple building that was on the corner. They came closer to it and she noticed the line that wrapped around the side of the building.

"Looks as if we're going to have to wait a while, Harry," she said. He gave her a mischievious grin that would have made his father proud, and holding up a finger, left her standing there, and headed to the door. He had a short conversation with the bouncer and motioned her to join him as the man unhooked the black velvet rope that barred anyone from entering. She made her way to the front of the line, again conscious of the women that were ogling Harry. He took her hand and she heard a few hisses of jealousy from two of the women waiting in the queue. Inside, his money was waved off and they were admitted into the main room. Hermione had to voice her suspicion about this.

"You told them who you are, didn't you?" He grinned and held a finger to his lips.

"Do you want anything to drink?" he asked as a waitress walked by, a tray floating over her head. She nodded and Harry waved another waitress over.

"What can I get you?" she asked when she reached them a minute later.

"Do you have Muggle drinks, or just Wizard?" Harry asked over the bass beat.

"Both. The owners like to offer a variety since they are Muggle-borns."

"O.K. I'll have a double Jack and Coke. Hermione?"

"I'll have the same thing." Harry looked at her in surprise as the woman walked away.

"You're going to drink something 'that' strong?" he asked incredulously.

"What about you? You ordered it first. Besides, I'm on holiday, I can cut loose too, you know."

Harry smiled. The woman reappeared with their drinks and set them on the rail that ran the length of the club behind them. Again, his money was waved off, and Hermione's as well, given that she was with Harry Potter, the hero of the Wizarding world, the man that defeated Voldemort once and for all. Hermione shrugged and slid the money pouch back into its hiding place, inside her bra. Harry felt a slight surge through his lower body as she did this and thought to himself, 'Knock it off, Potter! You just became friends again. You want to ruin it before you get back to where you were?'

"Well, Hermione," he said after taking a large sip of his drink, "I brought you here to dance, not stand along the wall like a couple of coat racks." Hermione laughed, and took the arm that he offered to her. They stepped onto the dancefloor just as a new song began. He took her hand and let his body move to the sound of the music that pumped through the speakers surrounding them. He recognized the song. He had heard it from his own Muggle radio that he had enchanted to work at his house.

"I like this song," he said into her ear as he pulled her close to his body to prevent her from being shoved by the people behind her.

"What is it? It sounds familiar, but I don't know the name."

"It's 'Kryptonite' by Three Doors Down." He swayed with her for a few seconds more, then pulled away as the chorus neared. She now knew the song and anticipated the increase in the tempo as it hit and they both let the music take over them for the twenty seconds that it ran, then moved closer to each other again for the second verse. The next time the chorus came, Harry held onto Hermione, moving his body against hers through to the last tempo increase. She felt her face flush for a second, then allowed him to lead her in the dance, disappointed when he moved away near the end of the song. He left the floor entirely when the song ended and another began, leaving her standing there alone.

She became a little angry when she saw him retrieve his drink from the rail and take a large gulp of it, but was determined not to let it get to her, and decided to show him how she danced when she was alone in her bedroom, as the next song was one that she knew well, living in Muggle London. It was Outkast's 'Hey Ya!', and she delighted in the expression on his face as she spun, dipped and moved every part of her body in time to the music.  
Harry watched her in disbelief, and the stirring in his groin increased even more than when it had caused him to leave the floor. The middle of the song made him even harder as she did exactly as the song directed and shook her body in the most provocotive way. He downed the rest of his drink and ordered another just as the song ended and 'Hot in Herre' started. Hermione was getting irritated at Harry. Here she was showing him her best moves and he was just standing at that bloody rail, getting piss drunk! Well forget it, she knew that she was attracting the attention of several men around her and moved to dance with one of them.

Harry's blood started to boil when Hermione wrapped her arms around the neck of a man that looked as if he only wanted one thing from her and slamming his glass down on the rail, he stalked out onto the dancefloor as 'Bump, Bump, Bump' started playing and pulled her away from the stocky blond and wrapped his arms posessively around her waist. He completely let go for this song, not hiding the state his body was in from her. She stiffened as she felt his erection against her hip, but a sly smile played on her lips and she decided to use this to her advantage. She ground her bum into his groin, recieving the same from him in return, and for each time she bumped into him, he bumped back, making his intentions clear. He had claimed her for his own, and wanted her to know it. She grabbed his hand when the song ended and dragged him off the floor. She wanted him desperately and hurried out of the club, pulling a more than willing Harry behind her.

"Hermione, where are we going?" he asked, slightly breathless from their pace. She was looking for a secluded area, she wasn't sure that she would be able to make it back to the hotel. She pulled him into a deserted alley and slammed him into the wall.

"What are we doing here?" Hermione's hands went for his belt and pulled it open as quickly as she could, then moved to the fastenings of his jeans. Even though he knew full well, he asked, "What are you doing?"

"I want you, Harry. I want you right here and right now." She got the button undone and pulled the zipper down, sliding her hand inside as it went. Harry's breath caught in his throat as she palmed him through his boxers. Hermione stroked his length through the soft cotton, feeling the searing heat he was giving off. She loved the way his breathing increased as she touched him, knowing that she was the cause. His hands found their way to her bare shoulders, slipped the straps of her top off, and were followed by soft butterfly kisses while she licked and nipped at his pulse point.

Hermione had no intention of stopping, that much was clear to Harry when she pulled his boxers down to the middle of his thighs and sank to her knees in front of him. It was dark, so he couldn't see her, but he almost jumped out of his skin when he felt her warm tongue touch his tip, then slide down to the base and back again. Harry let his head fall back against the wall when her lips wrapped around the head and he let out a soft moan. She pulled back after a second.

"Do you like that?" she asked.

"Oh, God, yes. Why did you stop?" He waited for her answer, but recieved nothing. "Hermione?"

"It's the first time I've ever done that," she said softly.

"Really?"

"Yes. And I'm worried that I won't do it right. You'll let me know if I do it wrong, won't you?"

"Hermione," Harry said, "From how you started, I don't think you 'could' do it wrong. Of course I would really have no basis for comparison."

"What do you mean?" Hermione asked.

"This is also the first time that anyone's ever done this to me."

"Are you telling me that Susan never...?" Hermione was surprised.

"Well, it's not like she didn't try, I guess I just never really had any interest in doing anything sexual with her," Harry replied, "In fact, I don't think that we ever saw each other." After a moment's silence, he realized that he would have to explain his last statement. "Naked. At least, I know I never saw her."

Hermione was glad now that it was dark in this alley. She blushed furiously at the thought of Harry seeing her naked, even though she had every intention of making it with him at this very moment. In fact, she was unable to see the part of him that she was currently stroking, the part that made him moan when she leaned forward and licked softly, then wrapped her entire mouth around. She was thoroughly enjoying being the first woman to give him this pleasure and set into doing what she could to give him as much of it as she could.

Harry sighed when Hermione started sliding her mouth up and down his member. For someone who had never done this before, she seemed to be an expert at it.

Except for that! He jumped in pain and Hermione pulled away from him.

"Did I hurt you?"

"Um,...yeah, just a little," he said. He could sense her disappointment.

"What did I do?" she asked.

"Well, I know it's sort of a sensitive subject with you, especially after Malfoy teased you so badly in fourth year, but...um..."

"Harry, are you trying to say that the problem is my teeth?"

"Sort of. I know that you didn't mean to, but they sort of raked my skin for a second there, and that's what hurt." To his surprise, Hermione giggled in the darkness.

"Ginny warned me that if I ever tried this, I would have to be careful of my teeth, I suppose that I should have listened to her. Should I try it again?"

Without waiting for an answer, her mouth descended upon him again, and Harry's head hit the wall. This time was completely different, she was using her lips to protect him and they formed a seal around his shaft at the same time, making the inside of her mouth work with a lot more suction. He couldn't contain the moan that escaped his lips, and he buried his hands in her hair, making sure not to pull on the strands and make her stop doing this to him.

Hermione felt him relax when she'd continued, and his hands gently wound their way into her frizzy hair, but he was careful not to pull. She took this as a good sign and took more of his erection into her mouth, stopping only when he touched the back of her throat. Ginny had also warned her about the gag reflex, and she was a little wary to go any further on Harry and have the possibility of her gagging turning him off to doing anything else with her. But instead, she recieved another moan from him, and made the decision to go as far as her throat would let her. Harry was shocked that she continued to swallow more of him, and nearly lost it when she reached his base a few seconds later. His knees nearly went out from under him, but he braced himself against the wall with one hand, leaving the other to run down Hermione's head to her shoulder. When he reached it, he slid his hand under her arm to pull her upright.

"What's wrong, Harry?'' she asked. She felt his arms wrap around her and suddenly his lips were pressed against hers. She had been kissed before, by Viktor, Ron, even Mark. But none of them kissed like Harry. He started softly, teasing her lips open with his tongue, asking her for admittance, then when she opened, he moved it in a sensual mating dance with hers. Without knowing how or when, she felt that the wall was now behind her, and one of Harry's hands was moving down her hip and around to the front of her jeans. He paused, letting her give him permission to continue. She answered by wrapping one arm around his neck and moving him further down with her other hand. He took her hint, undoing the button on the waistband and slid his hand inside, the zipper giving to allow him room to move. He felt her knickers were already damp and smiled into their kiss. She gasped as his fingers traced her through the soft cotton, running up between her folds and gently pressing it all against her throbbing clit. She pulled her mouth from his.

"Harry, please," she begged. He nodded and pushed the garments down. She kicked them off, wrapped her legs around his waist and bit her lip. Harry moved closer to her, pressing her against the wall and noticed in the dim light that came into the alley as the moon started to move over the top of the building they were against as he was about to enter her, an expression of total fear. He stopped moving.

"Hermione, what is it? I won't hurt you, you know that." Her reply was almost to soft for him to hear.

"That's just it. You 'are' going to hurt me."

"Why would I do that? I don't want to hurt you, not for any reason. The only way that I would hurt you right now is if..." He saw the confirmation in her eyes. "This is your first time, isn't it?" She nodded and lowered her feet to the ground. Harry stepped back as she pushed past him. She gathered up her jeans and pulled them on, tears threatening to fall. He pulled his own jeans to his waist, did up the fastenings and his belt, turned her around gently and raised her face to meet his. "Hermione, do you really want to do this?" She met his eyes in the faint light. "Do you really want me to make love to you?" She nodded.

"I have for the longest time, Harry," she whispered. Harry was shocked.

"You have?"

"Yes. Even more since we broke off our friendship, actually." She wrapped her arms around herself. "Because it was then that I realized that I loved you."

"Well, I loved you, too. That's why I'm glad we became friends again, and I'm just trying to be sure that you want to make this more than friendship."

"No, Harry. I meant that I realized that I was 'in' love with you."

Hermione shoved past a totally astounded Harry and ran from the alley. He stood there for only a second before following her. He caught a brief glimpse of her as he came out onto the street just before she Apparated.

"Great, now where did she go?" he grumbled to himself. Then it came to him. Hoping that he was right, he Apparated back to the hotel lobby. Sure enough, Hermione was heading up the stairs. Harry ran after her, catching her just as she was closing the door to her room.

"Hermione, wait. Don't leave it like this, please."

"Leave it like what, Harry?" she asked, "Tell you that I'm in love with you? That I've wanted to sleep with you for at least the last two years, in fact, saved myself just for you? I have never been so embarrassed and I just want to go home. I'll be leaving in the morning, and you won't have to worry about my feelings anymore. Good-night, Harry." She attempted to close the door, but he stopped it with one arm.

"What are you talking about? You're leaving? Even though we just became friends again, you want to go as if nothing ever happened?" Hermione stepped out into the hallway and pulled the door shut. "Why are you embarassed, anyway?"

"Because of the fact that I told you that at all. I didn't intend for you to find out this way. I'm really happy that we're friends again, but I can't deal with the pain that I just caused myself. I told you all of that, and I should have realized that you may not feel the same way. Now, I'm going to bed. Please, just leave me alone. I'll send you an owl when I get back to London, but until then, I just want to be left alone."

She spun around and turned the doorknob, realizing too late that it was locked, and her key was with her money pouch, right where she had thrown them upon entering, on the coffee table. She hung her head.

"What is it?" Harry asked. Hermione sighed as she turned back to face him.

"I'm locked out."

"Oh. Well, doesn't the front desk have a master key?" Hermione nodded.

"Yes, but the owners close the desk at ten. It's half past, now," she said, looking at her watch, then covering her face with her hands. "What am I going to do?" she moaned. "I want nothing more than to go to bed, and I can't even do that! Can this night get any worse?" Harry took one of her hands and led her to his room. "What are you doing?"

"You're going to stay in my room tonight." He saw her hesitate. "I'll sleep on the sofa," he added, pulling his key out and slipping it into the lock. He opened the door and gestured for her to enter. She smiled thankfully at him and walked into the room glancing around as Harry turned the lights on with his wand. She jumped as his hands landed on her shoulders a second later. "Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you," he said as he moved around to her line of vision.  
"Well, since the rooms all seem to be set up the same way, you know that the bedroom's down the hall, and the bathroom is right across from it. I just need a pillow and I'm fine for the night." Hermione looked down the hall towards the room, kicked off her sandals and spun around to look at Harry. She waited for him to take off his shoes, stepped over to him and leaned down to grab his hand when he had dropped them on the floor.

"What are you doing?" he asked as she dragged him off the sofa and down the hall, throwing him bodily into the bedroom. He lost his balance and fell on his stomach on the bed, Hermione diving onto his back a second later. He grunted as she landed on him and flipped him over. "I guess that answers my question," he said, laughing as he looked up at her, still unsure as to what she had in mind. She took hold of the tail of her tank top and pulled it over her head, revealing a bright blue demi-cup lace bra underneath.

"Are you sure?" he asked, pulling himself up onto his elbows as she reached around to unhook the garment. She paused, met his eyes and nodded, lowering her arms back to her sides.

"I've never been so sure of anything in my life, Harry. I've wanted you for the last two years and I'm not letting you go until I get what I want. I don't care if you don't feel the same way that I do, I just want you to be inside me." She lay down on his chest, meeting his lips with hers and thrusting her tongue into his mouth. He felt her hands running down his sides and squirmed. "What's the matter?" she asked. "Are you ticklish?" She gave him a test tickle to find out and when he pulled away, she laughed. "You 'are'! I'm going to have to keep that in mind for later, but right now, I need you." She slid her hands between them and cupped him through his jeans before undoing the button and pulling them down his legs. Harry sat up, tugged his shirt over his head and tossed it on the floor.

Hermione's eyes darkened as she saw this part of him, especially the scar that ran across his right side along his bottom rib. She had seen this before, but at the time it had been bleeding and had a piece of wood sticking out of it. That had been immediately after his return from the final battle and was the only reminder of that fight. She reached out and ran her fingers along the thin five inch ridge, then looked into his eyes. "Does it still bother you?"

"No, not so much any more. Just when I'm really tired or I've been hit by a bludger." He closed the subject, not wanting to talk about his scars, by pulling her with him as he lay down and kissed her gently while he ran his hands down her back to her bra clasp, releasing it, fumbling a little in the process. Hermione rose up and pulled it off, giggling.

"Harry, one would think that you'd never taken a girl's bra off before." He flushed slightly.

"I haven't," he admitted. Hermione chuckled.

"What, they've always done it for you?"

"No, I've just never had reason to do it," he replied, his flush deepening as he struggled to restrain his hands from reaching up and roaming over her newly revealed flesh. She cocked her head to one side, watching his face for any sign of explanation of his last remark.

"She kept it on?" Harry shook his head and pulled his eyes to hers.

"I'm a virgin, Hermione," he said to her surprise.

"Are you serious?" Harry nodded.

"I've really never had any physical interest in any girl. Not since..." He lowered his eyes briefly, then sighed deeply and realized that he had to be totally honest with her, the way she had been with him. "Not since our seventh year just before the final battle. The day that Colin was going around taking all those pictures, actually," he said, giving in to his hands' resistance to be held back and let them finally touch her while he continued. "You want to know why I couldn't talk to you about how I was feeling then? How I was 'really' feeling?" Hermione sighed at his touch and nodded, her eyelids drooping in pleasure. "I couldn't say anything to you because you would have found out about the girl that I was in love with and I didn't want her to feel trapped by the media that was following me all the time, so I didn't tell her. I regret it now, but I hope that I can correct what I've done." He forced his hands back down. "Hermione, are you listening to me?" Her eyes snapped open in disappointment. She had been on the verge of release, and he'd stopped touching her. "Hermione?"

"Yes, Harry, I'm listening to you. But doesn't the media pretty much leave you alone now?" She wished desperately for him to resume his previous task, her nipples tingled from his caresses.

"They only leave me alone beacause they don't know where I live. It's unplottable, and I named Ron and Luna as my secret keepers so that I could live a normal life for once. No one else knows where I am, unless I go out into public, and the people in my villiage have followed my wishes to leave me alone for the most part. I do have a lot of friends there, and no one is going to sell me out to the Daily Prophet. But back to what I was saying before. I fell in love with this girl, but didn't tell her for her own safety even though it broke my heart to do it." Hermione bit her lip. She didn't really want to hear about the lucky girl that had claimed Harry's heart, but it seemed that he insisted upon telling his story now. She squirmed uncomfortably on his lap for a minute until his hands clamped down on her hips, forcing her to be still. She had to smile when she saw the look of desire on his face.

'You may hold his heart, whoever you are,' she thought, 'But right now, he's with 'me', and 'I'm' the one that he's going to lose his virginity to. Well, at least, I will be if he ever gets around to it!' She realized that if she wanted him to get a move on, she was going to have to be the one to start it.

"Harry, must we really talk about this now? Especially in the state of undress that we are in?" She leaned forward, brushing her hard nipples against his chest. His eyes followed their movement like a cat stalking its prey, and she thought that she had won, but he inturrupted her inner shout of triumph.

"Hermione, I want nothing more than to see the rest of you, but first, I have to tell you this. I have to get this out into the open, because it's been drowning me for the last two years. I want you know exactly why I couldn't tell you what was going on with me at the end of last year."

"You already did, Harry. You said you didn't want me to find out who the girl was and have the Prophet find out as well."

"Yes, but I need to tell you the name of the girl." Hermione slid off his lap and reached for her shirt. She couldn't stand much more of this. Why did he insist upon doing things to hurt her? "Hermione," he said, "What are you doing?" She stood there in front of him, her tanktop clenched to her chest, and sighed.

"I'm going home, Harry. You want to dwell in the past and on some girl that didn't even know that you fancied her, and I can't be with you right now." She tugged the top on and turned to go, but Harry shot up off the bed and stopped her.

"You didn't let me finish! Please, don't do this. Don't leave." He took her hand and pulled her back to the bed, sitting down, but released her when she didn't do the same. She stood there in front of him, her eyes lowered and staring at the floor, not wanting to get as close to him as she had been just a few minutes ago. She knew she was about to hear the name that she would hate for the rest of her life, and tried to keep out his words when he spoke.

"Now are you going to stay and listen to this? I really need you to hear it." He bent down, looking up at her face as she wouldn't look at him. She nodded, closing her eyes in attempt to block the coming pain. "Are you, really?" Again she nodded. Harry sighed. "Hermione, I need you to look at me. I want to see your eyes, please." She opened them and met his through her teardrop studded lashes.

"Harry, just get on with it already. You want to say this so badly, but you seem to be more interested in what I'm doing," she whispered, the pain evident in her voice, and dropped her eyes to the floor once more.

"All right, then. The reason I couldn't tell you about how I was feeling, and the reason that I was protecting the girl from the Prophet, and the reason that I was getting so angry with you all the time is because...well, you were getting too close to finding out who she was, but I want to tell you now. I think we both may have been spared a lot of pain if I had just told you then how I felt about you." She started, her head snapped up and she searched his green eyes. He smiled back at her.

"Are you telling me that the girl that you fell in love with...was 'me'?" To her disapointment, he shook his head.

"No, Hermione. The girl that I fell in love with 'is' you. Present tense. I cannot stop thinking about you. The whole time I was with Susan, I was comparing her to you, and she was always coming up short. I would have a date with her and spend the night wishing that I was back home, where I could look at the photo album that Hagrid gave me after first year. That's the only place that I could see you as we'd made it clear that we didn't want to be friends anymore. What a bunch of mistakes I made. I should have just told you that I had fallen in love with you. Even if you didn't feel the same way, we would have been able to save our friendship and not spent the last two years wondering what happened and been in relationships that neither of us would have normally gotten into." He reached out and lay his hands on her hips. "I didn't want Rita Skeeter to be chasing you around after what you did in fourth year, and even though she's still afraid of what you'll do to her, you knowing she's an unregistered Animagus, she would love to have something on you, and me, to get her job at the Prophet back to where it was, and you don't need all that bad attention."

"Harry, I don't care what that cow says or does anymore. I stopped caring when we left school. Well, not entirely, but when I didn't see your name in the Prophet or the Quibbler for a while, I dropped the whole thing with Rita and have just been trying to live my life. She didn't even say anything when I got together with Mark, so I knew then that she was only interested in people that are still connected with you." Harry inturrupted her.  
"Yeah, I know. She wrote that big article about Ron and Luna's wedding, and at least a third of it was about me and my date, and that being the reason you didn't show." Hermione took hold of his hands and moved them to the hem of her shirt.

"Harry, we have all the time in the world to talk about this, but I want to do something else right now." He understood her meaning and pulled her shirt over her head as she knelt in front of him. He slid his hands under her arms and pulled her up into his lap, meeting her lips with his own. Hermione moaned softly when her nipples crushed against Harry's bare chest, and merged her tongue with his with total abandon. She felt him harden beneath her, his groan against her mouth when she ground her pelvis into his. Hermione reached between them to undo her jeans and raised up to push them down. Harry, feeling what she was doing, reached up to help her, one hand joining hers, the other on her back while he lay back on the bed to give her room to maneuver without breaking their kiss. They got her jeans off and she collapsed onto Harry, knocking the both of them flat on the bed. They laughed, Hermione raising onto one arm and looking down at him in wonder.

"What is it?" he asked apprehensively. He didn't want any further inturruptions now that they had finally straightened out the problem that had been between them for the last two years. Hermione smiled reasuringly.

"Nothing. I've just been dreaming of this moment, and I hoped that I would be with you when it happened. Thankfully, my wish has come true."

She tugged at the waistband of his boxers, gently pulling them over his member, rising to her knees to remove them entirely before looking at the final part of Harry Potter that she had yet to see. Harry watched her nervously. He knew that he was larger than normal, changing in the locker rooms with the male members of the England Quidditch team told him that, but this was the first time somone of the opposite sex had seen him, and the fact that it was the woman that he was in love with, one of his best friends from school at that, made him extremely worried about how his body looked.

He let out a silent sigh of mingled relief and pleasure when one of her hands wrapped around his erection. Hermione stroked him gently, picking up a little bit of speed as she went, listening to the sounds Harry was making to let her know what he liked. So far, he seemed to be enjoying everything she did to him, and she intended to keep it that way. She gripped him a little harder.

"Oh, Merlin," Harry moaned. Hermione met his eyes, and smiling slyly, she removed her hand and got up off the bed. He looked extremely disappointed until he realized what her intent was. She turned away from him and started pulling her knickers down. She glanced over her shoulder as her backside was revealed, and gave him another smile before letting them drop to the floor. She kicked them to the side, winked at him and turned slowly back around.

"Oh, my God," he whispered when she faced him. He stared at her close cropped curls and felt his cock twitch with anticipation of what was to come. She climbed back onto the bed, straddled him and resumed her previous activity of driving him crazy. Harry's eyes rolled back in his head when her fingers brushed his tip, and he hissed out his pleasure.

"Hermione, are you sure that you haven't done this before?" he asked. Hermione chuckled and moved to his left, lying on her stomach on the mattress. She licked his length a few times before taking him into her mouth and closing her eyes to concentrate on running her tongue around the head and making him harder than he already was. She changed to a more comfortable position, closer to him, and felt him move at the same time, not knowing what he was doing until she felt his fingers touch her, moving her top leg out of the way, then caressing her wet sex gently. She barely managed to not bite him in surprise, and pulled back to keep from having any more close calls.

"Harry, what are you...? EEEEEP!" she squeaked as his tongue slid across her slit, warm and wet. She let her head fall onto his thigh as he spread her folds with one hand and touched the tip of his tongue to the swollen nub hidden inside. His little licks and nips sent shivers through her, and she said just before she took him into her mouth again, "Are you sure 'you' haven't done this before, Harry?" She felt his smile, he sucked lightly on her clit, then moved lower to the entrance he so desperately wanted to fill.

Hermione felt something starting to build in the pit of her stomach. She had never experienced this before, but wanted it to continue for as long as possible. It made her pick up the pace she had set on Harry's cock, wanting him to feel the same thing. Unfortunately, he had other plans, and pulled away from her a second later, moving across the bed where she couldn't reach him and rolled her flat onto her back while continuing to lap at her steaming box. He gently pushed her legs open as far as they could go, glancing up at her with a lustful gleam in his emerald eyes. They met hers, and it was enough to send her over the edge. Her back arched, her mouth dropped open and she gasped as wave upon wave of her orgasm rushed from her center to the tips of her fingers and toes. When she had come down from the clouds, she saw that Harry was right above her and gazing down into her eyes, silently asking for permission to continue. She reached between them and took hold of his penis, guiding it into place and nodding.

"I promise I'll do my best not to hurt you too much," he whispered, leaning down to kiss her as he started to enter her body. She felt the stretch as Harry slid into her, but he stopped upon reaching her barrier. She looked up at him, noticing the sheen of sweat that had formed on his face, neck and shoulders as a result of his fight to keep from slamming into her. His eyes were clenched shut, and she wondered inanely when he had taken off his glasses. She lifted her hand to his jaw, and he opened his eyes, their color the most brilliant that she had ever seen them, and she smiled reasurringly at him. He nodded and pushed quickly through her maidenhead. Hermione bit her lip in pain as she felt the tear. Harry didn't move for concern of hurting her more, but it took all of his self control to remain still now that he was embedded in her tight wet heat. He needn't have worried as she soon began moving her hips from side to side in attempt to get him to do something.

"Are you all right?" he asked hesitantly. She confirmed that she was by wrapping her legs around him and locking her heels just under his bum.

"I'm fine, Harry," she panted, desperate for him to continue now. "Please, please..." He grinned at her begging.

"Please what?" he asked, still forcing himself not to move. "What do you want me to do? You have to tell me or I don't know." Her chocolate eyes locked with his.

"Fuck me," she moaned. "I want you to fuck me." She sighed with pleasure when he finally began to thrust slowly within her depths. The feeling in her stomach started building again and she bucked against him. He took this to mean he had her permission to move faster and complied. His reward was her nails digging into his shoulders and long drawn out moans.

He knew he wasn't going to last much longer and wanted her to reach the end with him. He slid one hand between them, and began rubbing the pad of his thumb against her clit in time with his thrusts. Harry felt her start to shudder a minute later, accompanied by a series of whimpers that got louder until they bordered on a shriek. He let out a roar that seemed to come from the bottom of his soul and emptied himself into her body. They lay there, panting for a few minutes, still joined until Harry gently pulled out of her and rolled off to one side.

"Dear God," he managed to get out, "Now I really wish I 'had' told you how I felt back in school." Hermione laughed as she rolled over onto her side.

"I wish you had, too. We could have been together all this time, instead of subjecting ourselves to relationships that we had no interest in and possibly permanant celibacy." She drapped her arm over his chest when he pulled her closer to him. He was bordering on falling asleep and she felt the same way, so she kissed his jaw and snuggled close to his body as they both drifted off. 


	6. A Problem Before Breakfast

Pictures & Reasons- Chapter 5

A Problem Before Breakfast

Disclaimer: As I'm not making any money from this, chances are that I don't own the characters

Hermione woke the next morning, not quite sure where she was. Sunlight was shining straight into her eyes. She knew she couldn't be in her hotel room because the windows were on either side of the bed and she closed the blinds when she went to bed. To top it off, she felt a weight on her side. She glanced down to see a man's arm curled around her waist. She knew it couldn't be Mark's, he would never lie that close to her, he had this thing about space. Besides, she had kicked him out already, she knew that much. She cringed to think that she had gotten so drunk the night before that she had given her virginity to some stranger, then remembered.

She had met Harry Potter after two years out of Hogwarts. They had resumed their friendship over breakfast the previous day, gone sight-seeing and shopping, then he had taken her to dinner and dancing at a club. They had a small argument in an alleyway that had been straightened out in his hotel room an hour or so later, resulting in the both of them being in their now current positions.

"Good morning," Harry said sleepily from behind her. She rolled over and snuggled up to him.

"Good morning, yourself. How did you sleep?"

"Better than I ever have in my life. Mmmm, you have something else in mind other than getting up and going to breakfast?" Hermione's hand had found its way to Harry's groin, and was now stroking his already hard length.

"Don't you?" she asked. He chuckled and kissed the tip of her nose.

"I usually wake up this way, Hermione. All guys do. Why?" Hermione kissed him deeply and rolled over onto her back, pulling him with her.  
"Does this answer your question, Harry?" She positioned him between her legs. He grinned down at her and pulled away.

"Sorry to disappoint you, but I 'really' have to do something before I can even think of making love to you again." He got up off the bed and headed to the door.

"And what is that, if I may ask?" she said as he left the room. Her answer came a few seconds later when she heard the bathroom door close and the toilet flush not long after that. She chuckled and got out of the bed herself. She started gathering up her clothes, stopping short when she saw a ragged piece of paper sticking out from under the bed. She drew it out and turned it over, gasping when she saw what it was. Her image smiled back at her, then turned to say something to the torn edge and laugh. An arm came over her shoulder and she started making fish faces.

It was the other half of the picture! Harry had kept it all this time? She jumped as he put his arms around her from behind.

"Sorry, didn't mean to scare you. Did you change your mind about breakfast?" She nodded silently, too moved to be able to speak. "What's that you have?" he asked looking over her shoulder. "Oh," he added when he saw what it was.

"Harry, you kept this?" she asked, turning in his arms, tears standing in her eyes. Harry backed away, his hands up in defense.

"Don't be mad at me, please. I kept it because I wanted to have one final picture of you from before all the trouble started. I couldn't bear to throw it away when I loved you so much. I thought that I had lost you forever and just wanted a reminder of how beautiful you were... and are." She smiled and wrapped her arms around his neck. Harry smiled at her response.

"I'm not mad, Harry. I'm touched that you cared that much to want to keep a picture of me even though we had ended our friendship."

"I just wish I knew what happened to the other half," he said, taking the photo from her when she dropped her arms. Hermione grinned and pulled her clothes on hurriedly, running out the door, through the sitting room and out to the hallway before he could ask what she was doing.

He stood there a few minutes in confusion, then dressed and was about to return the picture to his bag and follow her when she returned, her hands behind her back. She smiled sheepishly at him before moving them out to he front, something held in her hands which she turned around as she crossed the room to him. She lined up the edges and Harry saw how the picture's two halves became one. He smiled widely as he now saw his picture joined with hers and laughed at the faces he had been making.

"I saved the other half for the same reason," she whispered. Harry picked up his wand from the bedside table.

"Reparo," he said, and the torn edges of the photograph melted away as if they had never been there at all. He lay the picture down on a chair and turned back to Hermione.

"Thank you. I've been feeling as if a piece of me was missing with the other half of that photo being gone. I didn't think that you would have saved it since I hurt you so badly that day." Hermione held up her hand.

"Starting here and now, neither one of us is ever going to mention that day again. It's in the past and it's going to stay there. Agreed?" She held the hand out to Harry, and he shook it.

"Agreed. But I have a request to make, too." She raised one eyebrow in question. "Remind me to thank Ron and Luna in setting this up the next time I see them." Hermione's other brow joined the first. "Come on, Hermione. And I thought that 'I' was dense. Just kidding!" he held up his hands in defense as she moved to take a swing at him, then wrapped one arm around her waist to pull her closer to him. "You said Ron and Luna suggested that you come here with Mark, right?" Hermione nodded. "And I told you that they had done the same for me and Susan?" Another nod, and a look of comprehension showed on her face.

"Ohmygod!" Hermione said very quickly. "They were trying to get us together from the start!"

"Well, they succeeded, didn't they? I finally admitted to you that I have loved you for at least the last two and a half years, possibly longer, and you told me you felt the same way." He curled his other arm around her and kissed the tip of her nose. "They knew how we felt about each other and wanted us to have the chance to act on those feelings. I think I'm going to send Ron and Luna a 'huge' thank you gift. Maybe I'll name my first child after one of them," he joked.

Hermione's expression became one of shock, then worry.

"What's wrong?" Harry asked.

"We didn't use anything last night, Harry," she whispered. He released her and sat down heavily on the bed, realizing what this might mean. He looked at the floor for a second, then up at her.

"Do you really think you might be?" Hermione thought for a second, then sat in a chair across from him.

"I don't know. I've been irregular for the last year, and I never know when I'm going to get it, so we'll just have to wait to find out."

"Isn't there a charm or spell that we could do?" Hermione chuckled ruefully.

"If there is, I wouldn't have had reason to know about it until now, and do you really want to go into a bookstore and ask the salesperson about pregnancy detection spells?" Harry's green eyes widened in horror and he whipped his head back and forth in the negative.

"The last thing that either one of us needs is the press that would generate from that bit of information. I can see the headlines on the Prophet now, 'Boy-Who-Lived Knocks Up School Friend'." He dropped his head into his hands, his elbows on his knees. "What are we going to do?" he whispered. To his surprise, Hermione laughed. He raised his eyes to her. "What could possibly be funny about this?"

"Well first of all, we don't know that I 'am' pregnant yet, and second, the headline would have to read, 'Man-Who-Destroyed-The-Dark-Lord Knocks Up Girlfriend', wouldn't it?" Harry sat up straight, now seeing the humorous part. But all too quickly, his expression darkened with worry again.

"Harry," said Hermione, moving to sit next to him, "We don't know anything yet, please don't be so upset." He turned to her, disbelief on his face.

"Don't be upset? Hermione, I may have gotten you pregnant on our first time together. We just found out that we both had the same feelings for each other all this time, and after acting on that, irresponsibly I might add, you may now be carrying my baby! I just finally got away from the media butting into my life, and now there may be a reason for them to 'never' leave me alone again!" He jumped off the bed and stormed out into the other room.

Hermione sat there in shock for a minute before anger seeped in. She followed Harry, finding him pacing the sitting room floor, unintentionally using magic to move objects from one place to another in rapid succession. She put her hands on her hips as she watched him, the rage that she was feeling building.

"You have a lot of nerve, Harry James Potter!" her outburst brought him to a halt. He turned to face her, the items that had been in the process of returning to their original positions dropped to the floor, several of them shattering. Hermione ignored it, but Harry looked around himself, surprised that he seemed to have lost control of his abilities for the first time since he had blown up his aunt just before third year. She crossed the room to him and turned his face back to her, holding his jaw in place to keep his attention. "You're just worried about how a baby would affect 'you'! Don't you care anything of the way 'I' would be dealing with it?"

Harry gently pulled out of her grip. "As a matter of fact, I do. I was just thinking that if you 'are' pregnant, you wouldn't want to marry me as you are strong enough to raise it on your own, and even though I wouldn't let you do that, I know that I'm not worthy of being anyone's father if the first thing I think of is the Prophet turning my becoming a parent into a chaotic mess. One that you don't need, the baby would have to live with for the entirety of its life, and I worked so hard to protect the both of us from in the first place."

Hermione's face softened when she realized that he had her best interests at heart and opened her mouth to answer him, but was cut off by a tapping on the window. The two of them turned toward it, seeing Pigwidgeon, Ron's tiny fluffball of an owl, fluttering madly on the outside sill. Harry hurried to open the window.

The little bird zoomed around his head for a few seconds, making Hermione laugh at the sight, before Harry reached up and caught it as he would a Snitch. He pulled the notes that were around the owl's leg off and released it to zoom around the ceiling, hooting ecstatically about having completed his delivery. Hermione watched Pig's path, stopping only when Harry cleared his throat. She looked at him, and took the letter he'd been holding out to her.

"And I don't know if you are ready to have anyone's baby yet, much less mine," he added as he opened the note addressed to him, "So unless you tell me, I can only guess." He read what Ron had written quickly, and smiled to himself. Ron already seemed to know that Harry had met up with Hermione as he mentioned her quite a bit in his note. An idea popped into his head and he hurried to the desk across the room, rifling through the drawer for a quill and ink to write a return letter. He found them and scribbled his note, rolled it up and sealed it, then without looking up, he snatched Pig out of the air less than two feet away from him. He tied the note to the owl's leg and let it go. Pig sank slightly from the weight, but shot out the window like a bullet, hooting shrilly in happiness of having another job to do.

"What was that about?" Hermione asked. Harry smiled reasuringly at her before answering.

"I asked Ron and Luna if they know any pregnancy detection spells, and I swore them to secrecy under penalty of death if they spill the beans," he said. "Don't worry, Hermione. They won't tell anyone." Hermione nodded uncertainly. Harry headed back over to the window to close it, stepping on broken glass the whole way. "In the meantime, I should fix this before housekeeping comes in and reports it to the front desk." He pulled his wand from the back of his shorts and waved it, casting 'Reparo' upon everything that he had broken. Hermione sat down to read her own letter, dodging a vase as it flew by her head.

She glanced at Harry when she had finished, he was standing by the radio, tuning in one of the Muggle stations that the island was capable of picking up. It dawned on her at that moment that she had missed her favorite show the night before and she blushed, remembering what the reason for that had been. He chose a station and turning around, noticed the tinge of pink in her cheeks. She ducked her head bashfully, smiling a little.

"What?" Harry asked. Hermione shook her head, afraid that if she spoke, she'd start giggling about it, and she didn't think that losing her virginity to the man she loved was the least bit funny. He stared at her, wondering why she wouldn't tell him, then it came to him. She had said that she never missed something the night before. Harry grinned widely and headed over to squat in front of her. She met his eyes, and saw his self satisfied smile. "You missed your program." She blushed again and nodded, dropping her chin to her chest, covering her face in embarrassment. Harry lifted her chin with one finger.

"Why does that embarrass you, Love?" Her eyes widened in astonishment, she pulled back from him. "You don't like me calling you that?" he asked, not sure whether to be offended, or to just find another endearment to describe her. She mouthed the word 'no', unable to find her voice due to the tears that were choking her. She sniffled and cleared her throat as the first slipped past her lashes and down her cheeks.

"Mark never called me anything like that. I'm thrilled that you would think of me that way."

"I'm in love with you, 'Mione," he said, rising to his feet and retrieving a tissue from the coffee table for her. "To me, it's the most natural thing to call you." She stared at him.

"I like that," she said simply, leaving him wondering if she was talking about him being in love with her or him calling her 'Love'. She took the tissue he offered her and clarified, "I like you calling me 'Mione. It sounds beautiful." There was another tap on the window, Harry turned to it, his mouth falling open in disbelief. Hermione followed his gaze, blinking rapidly to be sure of what she was seeing. There was Pig, another note tied to his little leg. She jumped up to let the owl into the room.

"It's not possible. That owl could 'not' have flown to the Burrow, waited for a response, and then come back in under a half hour." Nevertheless, here was Pig, and it certainly was a response that Hermione pulled off him. She read through the letter, turning red as she did.

Harry and Hermione (We had a 'feeling' you would find each other. Ha Ha),

Blimey, you two don't waste any time, do you? As you've probably guessed, we set you guys up. We got tired of hearing that neither one of you wanted to hear about how the other was doing, and seeing the pain and longing on your faces at the very mention of the other's name. Come on, the both of you! 'We' knew, personally from you that you guys were in love, we just don't know why you couldn't admit it to yourselves until it was too late, so we helped. You could do much better than Susan, Harry,... and Hermione, Mark didn't deserve you, either. (Maybe we should do a bit of matchmaking for 'them'?) But, getting to the subject that you asked about, Harry. Yes, there are spells that can detect pregnancies, almost as soon as they start, to tell the truth. I'm guessing that you guys have something to worry about right now if you are asking. (wink, wink) Anyway, Luna's thumping me on the shoulder for that bit there, so I'll just get on with it. The incantation is 'Detegere Gravidus'. There isn't much wand movement, just a tap on your stomach, Hermione. If a bright red glow appears at the end of your wand after about a minute, you 'are' pregnant, and of course if nothing happens, then you're not. Hope you get the answer that you want. Let us know at dinner tonight. Oh, yeah, by the way, we decided to take a little holiday for the weekend and guess what? We're on the same island as the two of you. Bet you were wondering how Pig got back so quick, weren't you? Well, we'll let you go so that you can do the spell, just remember that if it's negative and that's what you want it to be, next time use a contraceptive charm or potion, for Merlin's sake!

Love,  
Ron and Luna

By the time she got to the end of the letter, Hermione was so red that Harry was starting to think that she had been getting a sunburn right before his eyes. She looked up, and handed the parchment over to him. He scanned it, blushing just as much as her, and heaved a sigh of relief when he found how simple and quick the spell would be.

"We were right," Hermione said from across the room. Harry turned to see her by the radio, switching the station.

"We were right about what?"

"They set us up. It even says so at the start." She was extremely nervous. She was very close to finding out if she was going to have Harry Potter's baby and she didn't know how she should feel. Harry sensed this and moved to her side.

"Don't worry until there's something to worry about, Love. Come on, sit down before you fall down."

He steered her to the nearest chair, which she sank into gratefully. He knelt before her and pulled his wand from his waistband. She stiffened now that they were about to find out if there 'was' something to worry about, but leaned back so he could do the spell. He said the incantation and tapped her stomach lightly, then they waited. Hermione closed her eyes. She felt that time was passing more and more slowly, and she started when Harry let out a deep breath. She looked down at his wand, noting there was nothing to see. She glanced at him. He was shaking and sweating heavily.

"Harry?"

"I don't know whether to be happy or disappointed," he said, not looking at her. He stood up and moved to the desk to write a short reply to Ron and Luna and sent it with Pig at the window a minute later. He stood there, his back to her, staring after the owl until it could no longer be seen. He turned back to her, and she searched his face. He seemed to actually be torn between his feelings. She stood up and moved over to him.

"Harry, do you want to talk about it?" He nodded, sitting on the sofa. She lowered herself next to him as he began to tell her what he was feeling.

"I know that my parents loved me, but as I can hardly remember them, I've never really known what it's like for someone to love me unconditionally. Except for Sirius, that is, and he's gone. While we were waiting for the results, I found myself thinking that maybe this would be my chance to find out how that feels. I know, after all the noise I made about the press finding out and my family not having any privacy until the day I die, how could I be upset about you 'not' being pregnant? To tell the truth, I don't know, myself."

"Harry, I understand, believe it or not. I want the same thing in my life. Someone to love me unconditionally and for me to love the same way. But, Harry, right now isn't the best time. Do you really want to get together with me and be forced to marry me right off because of a baby? There are things that we don't know about each other now. We've been apart for two years and have to get to know each other all over again." Harry smirked. "All right, I know that we skipped a little ahead last night, but I'd wanted that to happen since I realized I loved you," Hermione went on.

"You mean to tell me that you 'would' have married me?" He smiled as she huffed at him. "I get what you mean, and you're right. I'm only twenty years old. I have plenty of time to start a family. Right now, I want to get started on getting to know my girlfriend again." He kissed the tip of her nose and helped her to her feet.

"Over lunch as it's going on noon." Hermione laughed.

"Deal. And let's invite Ron and Luna as well."

"Already done. That was what I sent off with Pig." She stood on her toes and kissed him deeply.

"Then we'd better get going if we want to get to the restaurant before they do." 


	7. Visiting Harry's House

Pictures & Reasons- Chapter 6

Visiting Harry's House

Disclaimer: As I'm not making any money from this, chances are I don't own the characters.

Harry hummed to himself as he unpacked his bag a few days later, having returned home. He was planning to write Hermione a note letting her know that he had arrived, but a knock on the door inturrupted his thoughts. His eyebrows raised as he headed downstairs to answer it. The people of Godric's Hollow didn't really bother him too much, and no one even knew that he was back except the person he had left only a few hours earlier. To his surprise, that same person was standing on his front steps.

"Hermione!" he exclaimed. "I was just thinking about you." He moved back to let her into his home. "How did you find out where I live?" She smiled at him.

"Ron and Luna spilled your secret. They hope you aren't going to be mad at them, but I can't stand to be apart from you so soon after the week we just had."

"I'm not mad. I was about to write to you letting you know, myself, but they saved me the trouble." He watched her look around the front room. "Would you like a tour?" She giggled.

"After a bit. I just really wanted to be with you again." Harry directed her to the sofa and sat down next to her. "I was looking around the villiage on the walk from the Apparation point. I can see why your parents wanted to live here. It's quiet, and everyone's friendly. Is that one of the reasons you chose to stay here after you found out your parents' story?"

"Yes, that along with the fact that it just felt like I had come home when I arrived in the first place. Now I can't imagine living anywhere else." He looked around his living room with a small smile on his lips. "Some of the people that lived in Godric's Hollow since before my parents died told me that I have the same taste as my mother. She tended to lean towards neutral and pale colors." Hermione noted that the whole room was done in understated shades of cream and beige. "You wanted my input on browns?" Hermione asked dryly. "From what I understood, you wanted some actual 'color' in your house."

Harry stood and beckoned her with one finger. She followed him through the house. He showed her the kitchen and the dining room, both again were done in the same shades as the living room. Same with the downstairs bath and the library. He headed up the stairs to the second floor and Hermione cleared her throat as she started after him.

"Harry, not to be rude or anything, but am I about to see more of the same colors as you have downstairs? It's a little monotonous."

"That's just the way that I left it. I didn't really have too much help in the decorating. I don't really have my mother's tastes. I'm just not here all that much and wanted to keep everything simple. To tell the truth, I have to agree with you. Those colors are downright boring, but you'll be surprised up here." He opened a door at the top of the stairs. A blast of color hit Hermione and she thought that she would go blind for a second. When her eyes had adjusted to the view, she entered the bedroom in amazement. Deep blue carpet, navy drapes, mahogany furniture, and the bedclothes were a combination of the entire range of blue from the palest sky to the deepest midnight.

"Harry, your room is incredible!"

"Thanks, but it's not my room. This is one of the guest rooms." She turned and looked at him, confused. "When I started moving in, I had every intention of taking the biggest room, but something told me to chose another. Come on. I'll show you which one is mine." He led the way down the hall and around a corner to a single door. He moved aside and motioned her to go in. Hermione turned the handle, pushed open the door and found herself totally in awe. Pale yellow curtains billowed with a soft breeze at the open window, white lace comforter with bright yellow ruffled trim on the bed and palest oak furniture against the walls.

"Keep in mind that I have no intention of sleeping under ruffles," Harry said from behind her.

"This isn't it either?" she asked as she turned in a circle to view the entire room. He shook his head. "But you said you were going to show me 'your' room." A wide grin appeared on his face.

"I never said 'when', now did I? Ginny and Neville decorated this one." He headed back out into the hallway, Hermione right behind him. They walked past the first room to another door that Harry paused at for a second before gingerly cracking it a few inches and peeking around before pushing it open.

"Couldn't remember if I cleaned this bathroom before I left or not."

The room was almost pristine. White, yellow, blue and green tiles on the floor, pale yellow sink and bathtub, shower stall in one corner. But one important thing was missing. Something that Hermione found herself needing desperately at that moment.

"Harry, there's one thing that I need that doesn't seem to be here." He caught her meaning and took hold of her shoulders, turning her towards the wall behind the door.

"You just didn't go far enough in. The door blocks the toilet and a really cool item that I put in here just to get people's attention. If they've been in here for a long time, then I know that I've succeeded." The item was a tapestry that looked quite a bit like the Marauder's Map. It showed all the streets and houses in Godric's Hollow. It didn't appear to be enchanted as nothing was moving upon the surface.

"It's very interesting, Harry, but why on earth in here?" She squirmed uncomfortbly, her need starting to override her curiosity. He realized this, and smiled.

"I'll leave you alone with it so you can find out." He closed the door behind him, chuckling to himself as he did so, and made his way to his room to finish unpacking while he waited for her. He heard her call his name a few minutes later as he was putting his bag in the closet. He stuck his head out into the hallway.  
"Down here, Hermione," he called back. She appeared a minute later. "Feel better?" She blushed, but nodded her relief.

"What is with that tapestry? When I looked at it, nothing was moving, but everytime I turned away, I would see something out of the corner of my eye. After a few times of this, I just stared at it. That's when little dots started moving around the streets, in and out of houses and stores." Harry nodded.

"Guess who made it?"

"It wouldn't have been Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs, now would it?" Her response was a smile. She noticed she was now in Harry's room and gazed around herself. He watched her as her eyes roamed over the furniture that showed his actual taste in decorating. A large cherry wardrobe stood against the wall across from the king-sized four poster bed made of the same wood. Harry's desk was in the corner next to one of the wide open windows that looked out over the back lawn. A large oak tree's branches were visible through the one closest to an armchair by the closet. Harry had sat down in another chair by the door to the room. The deeply polished floorboards gleamed under an enormous rug in the dominant color of green.  
Hermione noticed that this room followed somewhat the same pattern of the one at the top of the stairs. She saw a pale shade of new leaf in the rug's design that changed into the color of a deep night forest. The bedclothes were the same bottle green that his dress robes from fourth year had been. Hermione remembered thinking then that this green had been his best color. She was surprised that he had chosen it for the main color of his own bedroom, though.

"Mrs. Weasley talked me into the green, but I have to admit, it's a very soothing color. When I come home from a mission or a Quidditch match and I'm totally exhausted, I know that I can relax in this room."

"What was it that told you to pick this room? You never did say." Harry shrugged.

"I don't really know. Just something that I felt when I saw the rooms. I went into each one and felt that the other three were totally wrong for me for some reason. But when I came in here, I felt as if I really had come home. I don't know what it is, but I feel closer to my parents here than anywhere else in the world. I think maybe it had been their room before..." He stood and beckoned her back out into the hallway. "There's still one more room that you have to see."  
She silently followed him to this last room and when she saw it, tears sprang to her eyes. He had set it up as if he knew exactly what 'her' tastes were. It was almost all in white, the carpet, the walls, but everything was simple and tastefully done. She turned to him, seeing that he was waiting anxiously for her reaction.

"Do you like it?" he asked. She looked around her once more and nodded happily.

"It's wonderful, Harry."

"I had you in mind when I did this room. I wanted to have more reminders of you that just the picture, so I put things in here that made me think of you. Look over on the dresser." Hermione moved to where he had indicated and saw that he had put their picture in a frame on the top of the oak chest.

"Harry, thank you. I can't think of a better place for this picture to be." His arms wrapped around her from behind and he kissed under her left ear before putting his chin on her shoulder to look down at the picture with her. Hermione leaned back into him, resting her hands on his for a second.

"Harry, you've shown me your house, would you like to see my flat?" He confirmed that he would while nuzzling her ear affectionately. "But first, there's something else that I want to do," he whispered, and swept her up into his arms.

"You have a one track mind, Harry," Hermione giggled as he carried her back to his room and set her down on the bed.

"You didn't have any complaints about that while we were still on the island," he reminded her. She reached for his belt, undoing it and the button on his jeans quickly.

"I'm not complaining now, either." The zipper gave and she shoved his pants down his legs, revealing that he had nothing on underneath them.

"Well, well, Mr. Potter, I can see where your mind was before I arrived." Harry blushed slightly.

"I was in a hurry this morning if you'll remember correctly. I only grabbed my jeans and shirt before I got into the shower and then didn't think twice about it until I left the hotel. I just never changed when I got home."

"Good. It makes less for me to take off you." She leaned forward and gave him a long lick, causing him to become fully hard in return. Harry groaned loudly in frustration when they heard a knock sound at the front door.

"I better go see who it is," he said, carefully doing up his jeans and belt, then pulling his shirt over them to hide his state. She followed him downstairs as the knock sounded once more. On the other side stood one of his neighbors, a thick package in his hand.

"Sorry to bother you, Harry, but I saw when you arrived and wanted to let you know that the book you ordered the other month arrived. I know you have company, so I won't keep you, except to tell you that Helen told me to tell you that your owl is out hunting and she'll return her when she comes back." Harry nodded as he took the package from the man.

"Thank you, Tim. And tell Helen not to worry too much about Hedwig. She'll know I'm back. She always does."

"All right. Talk to you later, Harry. Say hi to Susan for me." Harry stiffened at the mention of his ex.  
"That'll be a little hard to do as we're not together anymore, Tim." The other man seemed surprised.

"But isn't she here with you? Helen said that a woman had come to see you and as she's never seen Sue, I automatically assumed that's who it was." Harry asked the man if he wanted to come in and meet the woman, sincerely hoping that his offer would be turned down. It was, to his relief, but Hermione appeared at his side a second later.

"Hello," she said. "I'm Hermione Granger, a friend of Harry's from school." She held out her hand, which a bewildered Tim shook.

"I've heard of you. You were one of the trio, right? You, Harry and Ron Weasley?" Hermione nodded with a smile. It had been so long since she had been associated with the trio, that she now realized how much she had missed it. "Yeah, she's the one that was always telling me what to do," Harry joked. He and Tim said their goodbyes and Harry shut the door. Hermione felt a little offended that he had made that comment, but pushed it to the side for the moment when Harry unwrapped the book.

"What is it?" she asked. He showed her the cover. "'A History Of Witches And Wizards That Went On To Greatness'? Harry, that doesn't seem like something that you would read." He held up one finger, leafed through the heavy volume, found what he was looking for and handed the book to her. She read it out loud.

"Harry Potter. The Boy Who Lived and the Man Who Destroyed The Dark Lord. Harry Potter was born in the small village of Godric's Hollow on 31 July, making him a Leo. At the age of fifteen months on Halloween, his parents were murdered by He Who Must Not Be Named, and when the spell was turned on Harry, his mother's sacrifice of her life gave him protection against the Killing Curse that rebounded and hit its caster, bestowing young Harry with the title of The Boy Who Lived.

"Not much is known about Harry's life until he reached the age of eleven and began his magical education in Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. There he met his closest friends, Ronald Weasley (See pg. 810) and Hermione Granger (See pg. 506). During his first year, he thwarted an attempt by a teacher possessed by He Who Must Not Be Named to aquire the Sorcerer's Stone. His second year, he located and forever closed the Chamber of Secrets from an old Hogwarts legend after destroying a large basilisk that had been brought to the school by a student, Tom Riddle, who later became He Who Must Not Be Named.

"During his fourth year, he competed in the legendary Triwizard Tournament along with three other champions. His name had been put into the Goblet of Fire by a former Azkaban prisoner, Barty Crouch, Junior. Harry won the tournament, but was transported to the small town of Little Hangleton, where he dueled with He Who Must Not Be Named and returned with his fellow winner, Cedric Diggory, who had been killed by the Avada Kadavra curse when he was transported to the site with Harry, who had insisted that they had both won and both had taken hold of the Triwizard Cup, which had been turned into a portkey to the graveyard of Little Hangleton.

"Fifth year brought the death of another Azkaban escapee, Harry's godfather, Sirius Black, and another battle with He Who Must Not Be Named inside the Hall of Mysteries at the Ministry of Magic in London. In his sixth year, Hogwarts headmaster Albus Dumbledore (See pg. 203) was killed during a fight with Death Eaters. It was also during this year that Harry fell in love for the first time with Ron Weasley's younger sister, Ginevra. Their relationship terminated at the end of the school year however, and Harry did not have another romantic interest for the rest of his school career.

"His seventh and final year at Hogwarts was inturrupted at the Christmas Holidays when he was called to the Final Battle with He Who Must Not Be Named. Harry indeed earned the title, The Man Who Destroyed the Dark Lord when he once more caused his now comlpletely human foe's (due to the fact that all the horcruxes, which have now been rendered an illegal use of magic, that were used to split He Who Must Not Be Named's soul were destroyed by Harry and Dumbledore.) curse to rebound onto the caster, ridding the world of a constant source of fear and intimmidation, and restoring freedom to the wizarding and even Muggle worlds.

"Harry graduated from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry that June. He was selected Seeker for the Gryffindor House Quidditch team in his first year, almost totally unheard of, and became the youngest Quidditch player in a century. He made captain in his sixth year, and retained the Quidditch Cup of his school for Gryffindor until he left school. Harry Potter's occupation is uknown, but he is also a Seeker for the England reserve Quidditch team and although his exact location is also unknown, he still resides within the United Kingdom." She looked at the pictures of Harry that graced the start of the article. The first was of him when he was a baby, the second, during first year and the last, taken fairly recently from his appearance. She wondered why they had written his history as they had. Harry was an incredible Quidditch player, and they had totally glanced over his abilities with the game, throwing it in at the end seemingly as an afterthought. She was about to comment on that, but another thought that had been in the back of her mind came to the front and stopped her.

"Uh, Harry?" He looked at her. "Why if you were thinking about me when you decorated that room is everything white?" He smiled reasurringly.

"I had a feeling you were going to ask that." He moved to the couch and sat down, Hermione following a minute later. "Do you know that in the seven years I spent with you at Hogwarts, I'm ashamed to say I never learned what your favorite color is? I probably wasn't paying that much attention what with Voldemort and all, but you would think that I would know things like that about my best friends." He moved closer to her and took the book out of her hands. "Especially a friend that I found myself in love with."

"Do you really mean that? Or are you just saying it?" He sat back in surprise. "Well, the way you introduced me to your neighbor wasn't by my name and I got the impression that you didn't even want to introduce me at all." He looked confused. "When I told him my name and he replied that I had been one of the trio, you said that I 'was the one that was always telling you what to do'." Tears threatened to fall from her eyes, and Harry realized what he'd done.

"Hermione, I'm sorry. I didn't mean it that way. That's the way that people know who you are, it's how you're listed in this book, the 'clever one'. I think half of the time I wouldn't have motivated myself to do my homework if you hadn't harped on me to do so. And I wouldn't have passed the O.W.L.'s, much less the N.E.W.T.'s. I really have to thank you for keeping on me. If it weren't for you and Ron, I would still be stuck in that cupboard at the Dursley's with no friends."

"You must be glad to be shut of them, Harry," Hermione said. "Do you hear anything from them anymore?" Harry hesitated for a second, then nodded briefly. "Sometimes. They, like everyone else, don't know exactly where I am, but they've figured out that I returned to where I was born. They get letters to me all the time and forward them to the only person they can here, and that's Tim. They can't spill my secret as they aren't the keepers and they don't have any idea where they're sending the owl anyway. But I don't want to talk about them. I want to explain why I didn't tell Tim who you are. I wanted to be alone with you, pure and simple. I only invited him in to be polite, sincerely hoping that he would say no, which he did, thank God, and I thought he'd go away so that we could go back to what we started upstairs." He sighed. "I'll understand if you're still mad at me about it, but really, I didn't mean to hurt you." He leaned closer to her to look into her chocolate eyes. "And I 'do' love you. I'm not just saying it to get you to do anything."

"Do you still want to know what my favorite color is?" Harry's eyebrows went up in surprise.

"Excuse me?" he asked.

"I forgive you for how you introduced me and I believe you love me, I love you, too. Now do you want to know what my favorite color is?" He nodded, and she rose, pulling him to his feet. "Can you Apparate from here, or do you have to go to where I came in?" He cleared his throat.

"You can Apparate from the back yard. There's a point there that I use all the time, and anyone else as well when they come to visit me. Except for Susan, though. She had to drive up here. Why? Do you want to leave?" Hermione took his hand and headed with him to the kitchen, where she had seen the back door earlier.

"Yes. I want to leave. Show me where the spot is?" Harry pointed to a small clump of strawberry bushes as they stepped out of the house.

"Hermione, I thought you said you forgave me?" She nodded, and started down the back steps. "Then why do you want to go? Are you still mad at me?" She stopped and returned to where he was still standing, grabbed his hand and pulled him along with her to his personal Apparition point.

"How am I to show you what my favorite color is if you don't come with me?" she asked. With that, she wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled his head down to kiss him as she Apparated the both of them to a new destination. 


	8. Treasure Hunt

Pictures & Reasons- Chapter 7

Treasure Hunt

Disclaimer: As I'm not making any money from this, chances are that I don't own the characters'

When their kiss broke, Harry found himself in a strange living room. He looked around at the comfortable furniture and noted the hallway and doors off the far side of the room.  
"Is this your house?" he asked.

"It's a flat, actually, but, yes, it's mine." She walked away from him towards the closest door. She glanced over her shoulder at him, and he took it to mean he should go with her. As he walked through the door into her kitchen, she jumped him from behind, spinning him around and forcing him against the wall.

"Something tells me you're not really interested in showing me around," he chuckled, then gave in to her advances. She had his pants to his knees in a matter of seconds and was working him with her mouth, listening to his deep moans telling her exactly what he liked for her to do to him.  
"Harry, you know what I want you to do right now?" she asked pulling her mouth off him. He closed his eyes briefly, shaking his head. "I want you to play a game with me. Sort of a treasure hunt. You find all of the things that I ask you to, and I'll use them in a special way. O.K.?" He nodded and she gave him a long lick, illiciting another moan from deep in his throat. She stood and backed away from him. "The first item is easy. It's a razor."

Harry stared at her blankly for a second, then smiled before pushing himself away from the wall. He moved to pull his jeans up, but she stopped him.

"Unh unh. You go the way you are. Remember, this is 'my' game. As a matter of fact, take them the rest of the way off. Everything else, too." Harry smiled again and did as she asked.

"What do I get for bringing back the razor?"

"You'll see when you do it. Now go on." He left the kitchen in search of the item. Hermione thought of another item for him to retrieve for her quickly. She'd had this little fantasy for as long as she could remember, and was eager to play it out. Especially since the other player was Harry Potter, the person she had most fantasized doing this with.

Harry had a thought as he headed down the hallway. Hermione had brought him here not long after asking if he wanted to see where she lived, and now they were playing a 'game'. It struck him as funny that he was seeing her home, but it was only because he was hunting for her bathroom and the razor she had asked him to bring her. He was confused as to her motives for this game as he looked through a door and grinned to himself. He had found the bathroom. He remembered that she had told him she lived in Muggle London, so he searched for the switch to turn on the lights. 'Now I know that I live entirely in the wizarding world,' he thought to himself. His own house was enchanted for the lights to come on as needed when he entered a room. All he had to do was think of it. He located the switch and flipped it, illuminating the room before him. He jumped as he saw his reflection in a full length mirror on the wall across from him. Harry glanced around for where she could have possibly put her razor and spied it on a shelf just behind the shower door. He turned the light off as he left the room, returned to the kitchen, and cleared his throat. Hermione had been facing the inside of her refrigerator and looked over her shoulder as he made his presence known to her.  
"All right, I found the razor, now what?" Hermione looked thoughtfully back at the contents of her fridge and closed the door. She turned to face Harry and was not disappointed in his body's reaction to the view she afforded him. While he had been gone, she had removed her bra and had left her shirt undone and wide open. She held out her hand for the razor. He crossed and handed it to her, recieving a long sensuous kiss as his reward.

"Next, I want you to find a feather for me."

"A feather?" She nodded. Harry hesitated for a second. He'd been anticipating finding out what she'd wanted the razor for, not being sent off in search of another item so soon, but he did as he was asked and headed back out to the living room. The kitchen door swung shut behind him, and Hermione quickly thought of what she needed to get for the end of this game. The key items weren't in her fridge, and she knew that she couldn't very well send Harry out to get them in his state of undress. But she wasn't worried about that at the moment. She knew that it would take him longer to locate the feather she had asked for.

'If he looks around closely, he'll see the one in the living room,' she thought with a smile.

Harry now stood in the room of Hermione's thoughts, glancing around at her furniture. He saw nothing on any of the chairs or the couch that would have a feather, so he headed back down the hallway. He passed the bathroom. No chance of finding a feather in there. The next room he came to had to be Hermione's as there were books everywhere, on every surface available, save for the narrow bed against one wall.

'No feathers here,' he thought, shaking his head, a half smile on his lips, and turned to the door that was behind him. This room was more opulently decorated. The large four-poster bed was covered with a luxuriant purple comforter. Harry moved into the room, his feet sinking in the plush cream carpet and touched the covering. He was disappointed. There was only a dense stuffing inside, not feathers as he'd hoped.

He turned around in a circle, catching a glimpse of himself in another large mirror on the wall above the dresser. The search yielded no success and he left the room, slightly irritated. There had to be a feather somewhere in this apartment, she wouldn't mean to send him out into the streets of London like he was, would she? He decided against that idea as he reentered the living room and eyed the other two doors there. He opened the one on the wall nearest him and found that it was a utility closet. He searched it quickly. Vacuum cleaner, dust rags, broom, dust pan. No feathers!

Harry closed the door and leaned against it for a second. He was getting frustrated with this. He moved to the other door and opened it, closing it a second later when he saw that Hermione's coat closet would be of no more use to him than the utility closet had been. Harry ran his hands over his face in exasperation and threw another look around the living room. Something caught his eye near the window. He made his way around a chair and looked to see what was lying on the floor. His green eyes lit up with triumph. An owl feather! He snatched it up and hurried back to Hermione.

"Found one!" he crowed upon entering the kitchen. He stopped short, his eyes glazing over with desire as he realized what she had done in his absence. She was totally naked, sitting on the counter, her legs spread wide, and though he had been gone for a while, it couldn't have been more than ten minutes at most. He wondered how she had been able to shave off the short curls that had graced her sex in that short amount of time. "Oh, my God," he whispered huskily. Hermione held out her hand for the feather. Harry walked over to her and put it in her hand, not taking his eyes off their original place.

"There's two more things that I need you to get for me," she said, closing her legs in an attempt to bring him out of his stupor. "And you have to leave the flat to get them, unless you have a problem with the smell of cucumber and melon, then it would be three things." He was still staring at her crotch, so she crossed her legs, finally causing him to meet her eyes with his own. Their green depths were filled with longing and disappointment at the same time, and when she glanced down, she saw that his body reflected at least one of those emotions as well.

"Why would I have to leave the flat?" he asked.

"So you 'were' listening to me. Good. I need some strawberries and whipped cream. I don't have any in my fridge, so I need you to get them for me, please. You'd only be about twenty minutes." Another glance down told her not even that long.

"You said something about cucumbers and melon. Did you change your mind about them?" Hermione smiled in amusement.

"O.K. You were 'half' listening to me. I told you I needed two more things. That would be the strawberries and whipped cream. Then I corrected myself and added that I would need three things if you had a problem with the smell of cucumber and melon." Harry cocked his head to one side, confused. Hermione decided not to tease him too much more about her plan. "Do you ever shave, Harry?" He shook his head.

"No. For some reason, I've never even grown peach fuzz, much less anything that would require me to shave it off." Hermione grinned widely. This would be a new experience for him! "Why?" he asked, confusion still in his voice.

"I'll tell you when you bring back the other stuff I asked for," replied Hermione slyly. Harry turned slowly and retrieved his clothes from the floor, pulling them on while shooting disgruntled glances her way.  
"This had better be good," he said as he headed out of the kitchen a third time. She heard her front door open and shut and giggled.

"You have no idea 'how' good, Harry." With that, she jumped down off the counter and hurried to set her plan into action. She had just turned off the water for the bath she had drawn when she heard him return. She stepped out into the hall and beckoned to him. He moved to set the bag he was holding down on the coffee table.

"No, no. Bring it with you." He shrugged and straightened up. When he reached her a few seconds later, she took the bag from him and covered his eyes before propelling him into the now humid bathroom. "I want you to keep your eyes closed for this part."  
"O.K. Then what?" he asked as she hesitantly pulled her hands away from his face, making sure that his eyes were indeed closed.

"You'll see." She stripped him down to his former state, noting that his erection had returned quickly, and led him gently to the tub, where she helped him into the steaming water. "Don't sit down," she requested and left him there to return to where her wand sat on the edge of the sink. Casting a quick freezing spell on a nearby bowl she had also filled with water, she placed the berries and whipped cream inside it to chill while she was attending to Harry. She picked up a large pitcher that sat beside the tub and lowered it into the water, filling it before lifting it to the level of his shoulders. Harry smiled faintly as she poured the water over his body, paying close attention to the area between his legs.

"Can I open my eyes?" he asked, shifting his position as she poured another pitcherful over him.

"Not yet. Harry, do you trust me?" He nodded instantly and she lay the pitcher aside, picking up a small can that lay to the side of the tub. He turned his head in the direction of a pop and then a small hissing sound. "Don't worry, I'm not going to hurt you."

"I know you won't. It's just a little strange standing here, totally naked in your bathtub, and not knowing what you're doing." He and his voice jumped slightly when she began smoothing the shave gel over his pubic hair. His green eyes flew open and he looked down. "That stuff's cold!" he exclaimed. Hermione smiled up at him, continuing to lather around his penis, which had lost its erection when she'd surprised him. Harry watched her with great interest, noting the scent of the gel. "That's what you meant by cucumber and melon," he said as she finished and rinsed the remaining gel off her hand in the water. She picked up the razor he'd brought to her and showed it to him briefly before dipping it into the water. Now Harry was getting worried. He crouched slightly and grabbed her hand.

"Harry, I thought you trusted me."

"I do, but this makes me nervous. I mean, you're about to..." Hermione reached up with her free hand to pull him down to her for a kiss.

"I need to do this for the next part of my fantasy," she whispered, releasing him. He still looked uncertain, but stood upright and crossed his arms stiffly. She was surprised. "You're going to let me?"

"Only because it's part of your fantasy. But if it were any other reason, I would say forget it." He stared down at her. "Remember, I still play Seeker on England's reserve team. I have to change in front of all the other team members. I'm going to get a lot of teasing about this." His words made her sit up rigidly. "What?" he asked.

"You have to be naked in front of 'all' your teammates? I don't know if I want another woman seeing you that way, now that 'I' have." Harry grinned.

"That makes you jealous?" She flushed prettily and nodded. "Well, you don't have to be. All of the reserve team is male." This gained him a sheepish smile and a sneaky gleam appeared in her eyes. She lifted her hand and drew the razor carefully down through the lather, revealing smooth skin underneath. Harry now focused his eyes on the far wall, not wanting to see her do this, it still felt strange to him, but also oddly arousing. He had to concentrate hard to keep the blood from flowing southward.

"When's your next game?" she asked as she worked.

"Not for another two weeks, but I only have a few more days before I have to return to work. By the way, what is it that you do now?" He heard her rinse the razor before she answered.

"I work for the Department for Control of Magical Creatures." He looked down at the top of her head.

"You're kidding! You're in the Ministry?" She looked a little afronted when she met his eyes. "I don't mean it as an insult, Hermione, I was just surprised that I haven't seen you at all over the last two years."

"What are you talking about?" She continued to divest him of his pubic hair carefully while they talked.

"You know how the book said that my occupation is unknown?" She nodded, rinsing the razor again. "Well, you're about to be one of the few to find out what it is I do." She glanced up at him, then returned her eyes to what she was doing.

"What?"

"I got sufficiant marks in my NEWT's to get where I wanted to go." He grinned widely when she stopped shaving him midstroke and looked up at him in awe. "I'm an Auror. Top of my class when I graduated the training program, too. I learned a lot from you about the neccessity of studying. I'm really shocked that you didn't know. But then again, I didn't know you worked for the Ministry, either." He squirmed a little, making her realize she had paused her task. She moved the razor down the rest of the way and pulled it away from his body. She was almost done, just needing to get the stray hairs that were left. She finished that and gently poured the now tepid water over his groin to remove the last traces of gel.

"Finished," she exclaimed, sitting back to allow him to see what she had done. He looked down and was surprised. He stepped out of the water and turned to the mirror to better examine Hermione's handiwork. It aroused her to see his crotch as bald as it had been before puberty hit. She watched his reflection as he ran his hands over the newly exposed skin. Harry noted that there wasn't even a trace of stubble anywhere his fingers encountered. He met her eyes in the mirror, and let his drop to her own sex as she rose to her feet.

"This reminds me of something that I wanted to ask before I left earlier," he said. "How did you do that so fast?" He indicated her body and recieved a sly smile.

"I first shaved in Hogwarts, Harry. I found a spell that removes any unwanted hair on your body, but the rule is, you have to shave it off the first time so that you know exactly how far to go with the beam your wand makes. Otherwise, you might take some of your skin with it." She pointed her wand at the tub. The water instantly started draining, and she tossed a towel to him. "Dry off and come with me."

She went to the sink and picked up the now frigid bowl containing the strawberries and whipped cream, then headed out into the hall, Harry right behind her.

"This is a combination of three fantasies I have. The 'treasure hunt', shaving you, which, by the way, is about to help me realize a fourth, and the stuff you brought me." They entered the second bedroom, which he now knew was Hermione's, and she indicated he should lay down on the bed. He did without hesitation. Hermione picked up the owl feather from the nightstand and put the bowl in its place before magically tying his hands and feet to the posts of the bed. He looked around at himself and grinned widely at her.

"So let me guess," he said, looking around again. "Your favorite color is purple, right?" Hermione grinned and nodded. "I'll have to keep that in mind and redecorate that room." He started eyeing the whipped cream and strawberries hungrilly.  
"The things I had you bring me were part of my second fantasy. The first was the actual hunt for the items. They were usually of a sexual nature and were to be used to pleasure both of us. The third, as I said, is going to help me fufill a fourth fantasy." She turned the feather over in her hands.

"What part does the feather play in your fantasy?" Harry asked.

"This? Oh, this was what I was going to use to tickle and tease you to the point of explosion." She made her point by drawing the feather over his legs and around his stiffening cock. "And to make you beg for mercy." She set in to tickling his ribcage and along the scar that lay beneath them, giggling evily when he attempted to squim away from the torture. She stopped when he indeed begged for her mercy, and said, "The strawberries are something else to tease you with."

She reached over and pulled a particularly large one out of the basket and opening the other container, drew the berry through the whipped cream. Harry's eyes clouded with passion when she lifted the berry to her lips and bit into it before moving it to his mouth and allowing him to eat the rest. She picked up the whipped cream and climbed up onto the bed, settling between his thighs. When he saw her intentions, his erection became harder. He wasn't disappointed. She drew some of the sweet confection out with her fingers and covered his shaft. He shivered at the cold sensation, and gasped when her tongue quickly followed the path her fingers had run. She cleaned him thoroughly, meeting his eyes as she licked the last of the cream from his tip.

"Do you know what you are doing to me?" he said hoarsly. She smiled and nodded. She moved up his body to straddle his stomach, pinning his member between them.

"You want me to tell you my fourth fantasy now?" He nodded and she continued. "That fantasy is something that I know I could never really have unless I manage to aquire a time turner, and then, it would just be sick and wrong." She saw from his expression she would have to explain in more detail. "You have to understand that this fantasy formed back when we were starting first year. I've been physically attracted to you since then." She blushed at having admitted that to him. "I've wanted to make love to you since before we went through puberty. I know that I am absolutely unable to do that now, but I can have the next best thing."

"That meant shaving my crotch," he laughed. "And yours as well." He looked longingly at her.  
"So now I intend to fufill that fantasy. Because I said just after you went out the door to get the strawberries that you had no idea how good this was going to be." She lifted up and reached between their bodies to take hold of his cock, then slid down onto it. Harry gasped as he now felt only her silken skin touching his. Hermione closed her eyes against the overwhelming sensations that flooded her body. 'I wish we 'could' have done this back then,' she thought happily. A second later, Harry started bucking against her in efforts to get deeper inside her wet depths.

"Oh, God!" he panted, straining his bonds. "Please, Hermione, let me out of these!" She shook her head and slowly started moving above him. Harry's mouth opened in a silent scream. He'd never have expected this in a million years. It was better than their first time, or any other time after that, for that matter. She gradually picked up the pace, drawing out their pleasure for as long as she possibly could, until she could no longer bear it. She leaned forward, grabbed her wand, and released Harry's restraints. With a loud roar, he flipped the both of them over toward the end of the bed, and latched on to one of her rock hard nipples while he thrust in and out of her with total abandon.  
"Yes, Harry! Oh, my God, please don't stop!" she cried.

He made it obvious to her he had no intention of doing that until he reached his goal. Hermione's legs came around his waist, and he reached down to pull one up to his shoulder, deepening his thrusts at the same time. She gasped as her orgasm hit from the newly exposed skin covering his pubic bone repeatedly slid across her clit. He felt her spasms beneath him and soared over the edge into his own oblivion as he emptied himself into her. He fell backwards on the bed, panting from his exertions and stared blankly at the ceiling above him, seeing only the stars that swam before his eyes. Hermione crawled up to lay next to him, kissing him lightly on his jaw. He wrapped his arm around her, pulling her close and turning his head to look at her.

"That was the best idea I've had yet," she said with a slight giggle.

"No argument here." He closed his eyes for a minute, then remembered. "Did you do the..." She nodded.

"While you were gone. Sleep now." Harry nodded and drifted off. Hermione disengaged herself from him gently and slid off the bed to retrieve a light blanket from the chest that stood at the end. She covered him with it and smiled to herself as she headed to the kitchen to make dinner for him when he woke. 


	9. Going To The Burrow

Pictures & Reasons- Chapter 8

Going To The Burrow

Disclaimer: As I'm not making any money from this, chances are I don't own the characters.

Harry walked through the Auror office to his desk one afternoon a few weeks later, noting to himself that several people seemed to be staring at him and whispering to each other as he passed them. This was nothing he wasn't already used to under normal circumstances, but it did seem strange that it would happen to him while he was at work. When he looked up at the ones who were doing it, though, they seemed to be engrossed in the cases they were working on at the moment. When he left to go home a few hours later, he felt physically and mentally exhausted. He just wanted to take a shower and see Hermione before they went to dinner at Ron and Luna's that evening. He Apparated to his backyard, pleased to see her already standing nearby.

"You have no idea how glad I am to see you, Love," he said, pulling her into his arms. He told her as they walked into the house about how his day had gone. He didn't see the look on her face when he got to the part about the whispering and the stares. She kept her expression as one of concern for what he'd gone through.

She waited until he excused himself to take his shower before she collapsed on his couch. She had been going through the same thing in her department. Someone had even gone so far as to ask her, "How could you do such a thing to a nice girl like that?" before walking away, leaving Hermione confused and troubled. She made a vow not to worry Harry about it, though. She was just going to let it run its course and hope that it would end quickly.

"Ready," she heard him say as he came down the stairs a few minutes later. She turned to see him threading his belt through the loops of a dark gray pair of slacks topped off by a white dress shirt that was unbuttoned at the collar. She smiled up at him.

"You look nice. What's the occasion?"

"Nothing. I just thought that if you're going to wear that," he indicated her knee length sundress. "Then maybe we should match. No use in only one of us feeling a little overdressed."

"Harry, love, I am hardly overdressed."

"Of course you are. To me, you're overdressed even if you only have on those skimpy little knickers of yours." Hermione knew that he was teasing her, and chuckled along with him. He took her arm and they headed out to his Apparition point to leave for their dinner date. They arrived a minute later in the garden of the Burrow. Hermione looked up at the structure.

"It looks as if they've added another room or two since I was here last," she remarked.

"When was the last time you saw or talked to them?" Harry asked, looking back at her as they walked up the steps to the door.  
"You mean before the island?" He nodded. "About ten months, why?"

"I take it you don't know about baby Nora, then." With that, he knocked on the door and opened it. "We're here!" he called out as he entered. Ron came into the room from the parlor and held a finger to his lips.

"Nora is sleeping," he whispered. Hermione was totally shocked, no one had said anything about Ron and Luna becoming parents.

"How come I never heard about the two of you having a baby, Ron?" Harry and Ron looked at her strangely and burst out laughing. "What? Why is that funny?"

"Nora isn't a child, Love. Ron and Luna don't have any children, yet," Harry said.

"Not that we aren't trying," said Luna as she entered the room and wrapped an arm around her husband's waist.

"Then what is she?" Ron beckoned to her and led the group through the house to where the new additions had been added, cracking the door just wide enough to show her what was on the other side.

Hermione gasped as she looked through the flora that almost overran the room in some places and saw the golden animal on the other side.

She covered her mouth to keep from scaring the beautiful creature.

"She's a baby unicorn, Hermione," Harry whispered into her ear. "Her parents were killed by a Manticore and Professor McGonagall thinks it would be in Nora's best interest to live with a Magical Animal expert until she's old enough to survive on her own. She's only been here for a few months, and can still be very skittish at times."

"Ginny and Neville stayed with her while we were on the island," Luna added. Ron closed the door, and they headed back to the kitchen. Ron noticed the newspaper lying on the table, gasped in shock and snatched it up. He tried to hide it in a drawer, but not before Harry saw that his name was on the front page.

"Ron, give me that." He held out his hand for the paper. Ron exchanged disturbed looks with his wife and reluctantly handed it over. Harry read the headline and his jaw dropped open.

"Oh, my God!" 


	10. I Didn't Do It, Harry!

Pictures & Reasons- Chapter 10

I Didn't Do It, Harry!

Harry Potter Abandons Girlfriend For Former Schoolmate- By Rita Skeeter

The Boy Who Lived can now be referred to as the Boy Who Left. Harry Potter has broken up with his girlfriend of a year and a half, 20 year old Susan Meyers, for his former best friend from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Hermione Granger.

Susan was quoted as saying through her tears, "I should have seen it coming, he'd brought a picture of her along with him on a holiday to a remote island."

Witnesses saw Mr. Potter and Miss Granger together the day after the incident at breakfast, various places around the island during the day and in a restaurant that evening, followed by dancing at a club they left rather quickly not long after arriving. One witness has stated seeing Miss Granger enter Mr. Potter's room that evening and not exiting until late the next morning.

Funny behavior for the duo, whose seven year friendship ended at the end of their last year at Hogwarts due to unknown circumstances. It would seem as if the pair has put their differences behind them and made up.

When asked if she thought that anything had happened while Harry and Hermione were alone together in Harry's hotel room, Miss Meyers replied, "He never did anything with me. I hope that he wasn't 'able to' with her." Reports say that less than a week later, Miss Granger was at Harry's house, which is unplottable and as no one knows who his secret keeper is, one can only presume that she had been told by Harry himself where he lives now. According to the unknown sources, she didn't come back out any time during the weekend, and neither did Harry. What could they have been doing all that time? -

Harry stopped reading the article and raised his angry gaze to Hermione. She stared back at him in shock at the furious look he was giving her.  
"What have you done?" he hissed.

"I don't understand. What do you mean?" she replied. He threw the Daily Prophet at her and she read the front page. "Harry, you can't believe that 'I' told her? Not after what you said about wanting to protect me from the press." Harry was clenching and unclenching his fists at his sides, desperately trying to control his anger. She dropped the paper on the table.

"'Someone' told her about our being together in my room. It couldn't have been Susan, she'd already left the island. You told me that you didn't care what she said about you anymore. You hadn't since we left Hogwarts. It only stands to reason that you were the one to spill it. And to the 'Prophet'! Could you possibly find a worst rag to go blabbing to?"

Hermione's eyes filled with tears. She couldn't believe what she was hearing! He really thought she had told about the two of them being together.

"The article doesn't say that 'I' said anything. If I had, Rita would have printed it, don't you think?"

"Not if you told her you would tell her secret if she let it be know that it was 'you' that was the 'unknown source', no I don't," Harry spat back.

"What about Tim? He was the one who said that Helen saw me go into your house."

"Oh, so now you think that I should blame my neighbors? They like the piece and quiet that Godric's Hollow has, Hermione. They wouldn't rat me out just for a quick galleon. I already told you that. Why can't you just admit that you told Rita Skeeter already?"

"Because I didn't! And if you don't trust me, then I have no reason to be with you. Ron, Luna," The other couple turned to her. "I'm sorry, but I 'won't' be staying for dinner." She leveled her eyes at Harry and Disapparated.

"Harry, mate, what is 'wrong' with you!" Ron exclaimed as soon as she was gone.

"She sold me out to the Prophet, Ron!"

"You don't really believe that, Harry," Luna said, placing a hand on his arm. Harry looked down at her and realized that she was right. He collapsed in the nearest chair and put his head in his hands.

"But if she didn't tell, who did?" he moaned.

"I don't know, mate," Ron replied, and pulled the paper closer to him. "But you have got to change the way you deal with the press. They're going to bother you, one way or another, until the day you die. You can't keep blowing up if any part of your life leaks out to them. You know in your heart that Hermione didn't and 'wouldn't' talk to Rita Skeeter. Did you stop to think that maybe you neighbors 'might' jump at the chance to blow the whistle on you? I mean I know that they can't tell anyone where you live, but they can divulge other, more intimate, pieces of your life if it suits their purposes."

A tap on the window made them look up and Luna moved to open it to accept a letter from the handsome barn owl that was on the other side. It flew off into the evening sky as she read the name on the front.

"It's for you, Harry."

He took it and slid his thumb under the flap of the envelope. The note was from Tim and Helen, confessing to being the ones to go to the Daily Prophet about his relationship with Hermione. They apologized repeatedly throughout the note, saying that they had been shopping in Diagon Alley and had needed a few more galleons to afford the potion ingredients they desperately needed. They went on to say that it didn't excuse what they had done, but they'd been desperate. Harry's eyes widened in horror as he now realized he'd probably lost the only woman he'd ever loved.  
"Oh, my God, Ron. What have I done?" he whispered. Ron turned the paper around to his friend.

"Harry, I hope you know now that you have got to change." Harry nodded emphatically and Ron showed him the two pictures that headed the article. One of each of the subjects of the article.

"If not for yourself," he tapped Harry's picture, then Hermione's. "Then for her." 


	11. The Reason Is You

Pictures & Reasons- Chapter -10

The Reason Is You

Disclaimer: As I'm not making any money from this, chances are I don't own the characters.

"I saw you yesterday with an old friend.

It was the same old same 'how have you been?'

Since you've been gone, my world's been dark and gray.

You reminded me of brighter days.

I hoped you were coming home to stay,

I was headed to church...

I was off to drink you away.

I thought about you for a long time,

Can't seem to get you off my mind.

I can't stand while we're living life this way.

I found your picture today,

I swear I've changed my ways.

I just called to say I want you to come back home.

I found your picture today,

I swear I've changed my ways.

I just called to say I want you to come back home."

Harry changed the radio station as he crumpled the note in his hand. Hermione was refusing anything that he tried to send her, and had set up Anti-Apparition wards in her flat to keep him out. He hadn't been successful in his attempts to contact her in any way, as even her coworkers had said for the last week that she was unable to see him. He was about to turn the radio off when he heard it. The perfect song! It expressed everything that he was feeling and more. When it ended, he wrote down the name of the song and the artist, grabbed a little wireless radio that he'd charmed to work without batteries from his desk drawer before quickly Apparating to the safest place he could near her flat. She was home, he saw the lights shining from her windows. Looking around, he spied a phone box. He hurried over to it and as soon as he heard the announcement for Hermione's favorite dedication program come on, he picked up the reciever and dropped in the change needed to make his call. He dialed the number the station listed off and waited. After three rings, his request was taken and he was promised that they would play his song during this show, and he assumed they hadn't had a lot of requests for the night. He hung up the phone and waited on a nearby bench, gazing up at her windows.

Near the end of the program, Harry heard his voice come over the air and sprang from his seat, running into her building and up to her floor as fast as he could.

Hermione sat on her couch, her arms wrapped around her knees, a tissue box next to her on the seat. Used tissues littered her floor and coffee table, and she threw the one she had just been using to wipe her now red and swollen eyes to join the rest. She'd been crying almost nonstop all night, and from the way the songs were all sad and depressing, she didn't think she'd be stopping anytime soon. She was only listening to her usual program out of habit. She would have gotten up to change it or turn the radio off altogether, but as the hour was almost up now, there didn't seem to be any point. She dropped her head onto her knee and reached for another tissue to wipe her tears as they started once more. Her hand stopped in midair and her head snapped up as she heard an all too familiar voice on the radio. The DJ asked for the person's name.

"Harry." Hermione's feet hit the ground and she sat rigid, not wanting to miss a word that was being said.

"O.K., Harry, and who do you want to send the song out to?"

"The most wonderful woman in the world, my girlfriend, or at least I hope she's still my girfriend, Hermione."

"Why wouldn't she still be your girlfriend?"

"I said some things, and because of it, she won't answer the notes I send her, she won't see me. I can't even get anywhere near her flat."

"She's got friends to keep you out?" the DJ joked lightly.

"Something like that. Anyway, I heard this song and it says everything that I want to tell her."

"What if she doesn't hear it?"

"She will if she didn't turn the radio off. She almost never misses this show. It's her favorite."

"Well, Harry, I hope she didn't turn it off, because we're going to play it for you tonight, O.K.?"

"Thank-you."

"You're welcome. All right, Hermione, if you 'are' listening, this next song is to you from Harry."

I'm not a perfect person.

There's many things I wish I didn't do.

But I continue learning,

I never meant to do those things to you.

And so I have to say before I go,

That I just want you to know.

I found a reason for me,

To change who I used to be.

A reason to start over new,

And the reason is you.

I'm sorry that I hurt you.

It's something I must live with every day.

And all the pain I put you through,

I wish that I could take it all away.

And be the one who catches all your tears.

That's why I need you to hear.

I found a reason for me,

To change who I used to be.

A reason to start over new,

And the reason is you.

And the reason is you.

And the reason is you.

And the reason is you.

And the reason is you.

I'm not a perfect person,

I never meant to do those things to you.

And so I have to say before I go,

That I just want you to know.

I found a reason for me,

To change who I used to be.

A reason to start over new,

And the reason is you.

I found a reason to show,

A side of me you didn't know.

A reason for all that I do.

And the reason is you.

Hermione's eyes filled with new tears as she listened to the song, but this time they were from a different emotion. She was so touched by Harry's dedication, she couldn't bear to not be with him any longer. She tried to Apparate, then remembered the wards she had erected around her flat. She jammed her feet into a pair of trainers and bolted for the door. As she yanked it open, she found the very person she so wanted to see. Her face crumpled and she threw herself into his arms. He walked her backwards through the door and closed it behind him, apoligizing the whole way.

"Hermione, I was wrong to accuse you. Not long after you left, I recieved an owl from Tim and Helen. They were the ones that told. You were right and I was just too damn stubborn to admit it. Ron and Luna made me see that I need to change the way I deal with the media attention that I get, and not blow up when something gets leaked to the papers about me. Now before you think that I was acting like I was ashamed of being with you, I want to show you what I was going to give you after dinner that night." He pulled a small object out of his pocket and held it up for her inspection.

"Harry!" she gasped. He took hold of her hand and slid the diamond ring onto her finger.

"Hermione, would you please take pity on this poor, stubborn, thick-headed fool and do me the honor of becoming my wife?" She nodded happily and wiped her eyes with her free hand as now tears of joy slid down her cheeks.

"Yes, Harry. I'll marry you, on three conditions. One- You 'ever' do anything like this again, I have full permission to kick your arse." He nodded immediately. "Two- You have to show me every day that you are changing your attitude about your relationship with the media." He nodded again. "And three- I'll marry you if you'll consent to following me." He grinned as she lturned and headed through the flat to her bedroom.

"I just called to say I love you,

Come back home." 


End file.
